Cadet Days
by Chocobo13
Summary: Paying a visit to Zack's grave, Cloud has a strange dream and wakes up several years in the past as a SOLDIER cadet. He thought he was done, but it seems the Planet had other plans. Post-AC. Warning: Possible boyXboy pairing between Cloud and Sephiroth.
1. Sweet Dreams

Posted: 7/7/10

My first posting! Possible boyXboy pairing. You have been warned. Don't like, go away. Possible pairing is Cloud x Sephiroth. May change to M-rating later, _way_ later, for now, there might be a few swear words and violence in the first couple of chapters.

Revised: 1/12/11

* * *

A few years had passed since Cloud had defeated the Renmants and his Geostigma was cured. Even his mind was returned to normal, more or less. He still had a few of Zack's memories, but they would only emerge if he wanted them to. And he no longer had the confusion of blurring between reality, Zack's memories, and visits from Aerith. After the battle, everyone had celebrated and life was beginning to return to normal. _His_ life was beginning to seem normal.

He still made the occassional delievery, but spent most of his time traveling and hunting monsters. But he no longer avoided his friends like before, and even answered his phone now. Though he traveled constantly, he visited his friends whenever he could, and made it a habit to visit graves, like Zack's and Aerith's.

The memories of fallen friends and strangers alike still saddened him, even depressed him, but Cloud no longer felt burdened or guilty like he had years ago. For the first time since the Nibelheim Incident, Cloud was starting to move on with his life.

Getting off of Fenrir, Cloud looked out at the Midgar ruins from the outskirts. Today he was paying a visit to his old friend Zack, and after giving the Buster Sword a much needed cleaning, it shined brilliantly in the setting sun. Now he needed to either continue traveling or settle in for the night.

He already visited Zack more than he usually did in the last few months, but he would probably travel across the Planet completely before returning again. So Cloud decided to spend the night by the Buster Sword and enjoy the night sky. Besides he wasn't in a rush to visit Seventh Heaven, Tifa would still be there tomorrow and he would be staying there for a few weeks most likely anyway. Giving a small sigh of content, Cloud simply gazed into the starry night sky and enjoyed the sixth sense-like presence of his friend until he fell asleep.

His dream was a swirl of color, of green, the Lifestream. He felt warm, like when he had been drifting after the fight with the Renmants. He heard Aerith's voice, he couldn't make out the words, but he could feel that she was reassuring him about something. But what? As if an answer to that, his dream became more confusing, flashing back and forth between the Lifestream and his memories.

Everything was speeding by, like it was being fast-foward. But watching as the memories that played before him were getting older and older, he realized that they weren't being fast-foward, but actually being played in reverse. Like someone was rewinding them. Cloud began to felt an instinctual sense of anxiety, if not dread. It felt like he was going back in time.

The feeling stopped, and an unfamiliar scene played out in front of him. Cloud saw himself back in Nibelheim during his childhood. His younger self had just ran away from the bullies and hid in a new hiding place- the mako cave that his mother had gathered mako crystal fragments from.

Cloud frowned, his memory may have been patchy at best, but he couldn't remember ever being in the cave without his mother present, let alone using the place as a hiding spot. Whatever he thought, he knew that he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, so Cloud simply watched.

_His younger self walked around the cave, exploring with curious eyes, picking up a few random crystal fragments along the way. Young Cloud walked around more, exploring deeper and deeper into one of the many cave tunnels._

_The path darkened as the lighting from the entrance dimmed and faded, but the young Nibelheim boy continued on, pulling a flashlight he had always carried around habitually before leaving for Midgar. Every now and again, he would place a crystal fragment of mako on the ground, pointing it back to the entrance._

Cloud smiled wistfully, he was always resourceful. Despite being the 'runt of the litter' and constant bullying, he always found a way out of situations. Even if he got beaten up, he nearly always managed to get away somehow. Although half of the time it was just dumb luck or someone else intervening that got him out of a jam.

Cloud swallowed thickly. Wasn't that the way most of his life went? Someone else bailing him out and a lot of luck? Like when Zack busted them out of the lab? Or his unknowingly disillusioned-self being found shortly after by Tifa? The blonde warrior shook his head wearily. Even in his dreams he couldn't escape depressing thoughts. Sighing, he refocused back to what his kid self was doing.

_The small youth was still walking down a tunnel, laying the occassional fragment, until the tunnel walls began to fade back into view. A dim glow appearing at the end of the tunnel, and the boy began to excitedly run to the faint light source._

Cloud couldn't remember feeling this sick in any dream that he had before. At least not outside of flash backs and nightmares. He would recognize the green glow along the cavern walls anywhere.

Mako.

_The young Cloud ran into a wide cavern with a high-vaulted ceiling. Across the expanse of the cave, multiple ponds glowed brightly of green. Mako pools. Speckles of light swam within the mako, casting light that illuminated the glowing pools further. The young Cloud looked around in awe before nimbly walking around the uneven but smooth ground, staying far away from the pools, remembering his mother's warning and the frightnening symptoms he heard about mako poisoning._

Cloud's eyes narrowed, something about this mako was different than what he had been submerged and injected with, but he just couldn't quite pin-point what it was. Not only the mako, but this dream as well. The old warrior frowned, this dream he was having was the most vivid he had yet.

It was too detailed to be a hallucination, but made no sense for it to be an illussion, since this never happened in his life, it wasn't a memory either. Yet, every other time he fell asleep only to be immersed in flashbacks, he remembered each one with vivid clarity. The fact that this was very much like reliving a memory and he felt the Planet's presence earlier left a nauseous feeling in his stomach.

_The exploring boy began to slowly gather more crystal fragments. What better way to pass the time than gathering mako crystal fragments? Even if he did get in trouble, he would be helping out his mom. She made jewelary out of this stuff to help earn more gil, but she spent most of her time tending to the garden and being a seamstress. So, since his mom couldn't spend a lot of time searching for good mako crystals, he would look around for her. And just look at the place! He found the jack pot!_

_Crystals laid about everywhere. The biggest ones closest to the mako pools. Pocketing the small ones in his hands, Cloud carefully edged to a small mako pool near the entrance. Grabbing a few that covered most of his palm, Cloud spotted a brightly colored crystal that was as big as his fist, just out of reach of the mako. The young Cloud looked at it curiously. It was green like the mako in the small pool, but solidified. Unlike the fragments he held in his hands and pockets, it wasn't fragmented either._

_It was round. A perfect sphere._

Cloud's eyes widened in recognition. It was a magic materia. A _natuarally_-_formed _magic materia! During his travels, he managed to gather every materia, but only a handful of them naturally formed in mako pools. They were different from the ones left behind by monsters and made by manufacturers. Derived from natural mako springs, they came directly from the Planet.

Absolutely pure in its entirety, and subsequently, its power was stronger. When set up side-by-side, a manufactured materia and a naturally-formed materia looked exactly the same, but the feel of the inner power were noticably different to an experienced materia user. But given the rare occurence of formation, they were difficult to come by. It took him years to gather the few he had. And to think there was one in Nibelheim!

_Cloud looked at the round green orb in fascination. Mako-crystal jewelary brought in a lot of gil. The only reason why no one else in Nibelheim made them was because no one wanted to face any monsters. The caves were dangerous. At least, as far as the rest of the villagers were concerned. But his mom went into the caves whenever she could, and would often bring him along. She taught him some of his first lessons about monsters._

_There were two main kinds of monsters. 'Defenders' and 'Attackers', as he learned to call them. Except during certain times of the year, the caves were safe to enter. Defenders did just that, they defended themselves. If you left them alone, they left you alone. One time, when he was ten, he had collected crystals with his mom when there had been a Kyuvilduns just yards away! Basically a praying mantis as big as him!_

_At first, Cloud had been afraid. Not that he was afraid of bugs, but he certainly did when they were easily his size! But his mom, although concerned, wasn't worried and simply took his hand, and began walking around the cave as usual._

_When he asked, she just told him that as long as they left him be, he would leave them be. And true to her word, the Kyuvilduns simply crawled up one of the cave walls a few minutes later, and simply went to sleep. Cloud smiled at the memory. He learned a lot from his trips to the mako caves with his mom._

_Crouching near the mako pool, Cloud reached out for the materia orb. Keeping a firm grip on a hand-hold, he leaned a bit further, the orb just out of reach. Cloud frowned in concentration, edging just a bit closer. Just a little further. Moving closer one last time, Cloud grabbed the materia._

_Pulling back as soon as he got a firm grip on it, Cloud gave a quiet cheer, not wanting to wake up any sleeping monsters nearby. Looking at the orb in his hands, he turned it over, wondering why it was round. He never seen anything like this before. Sitting up, Cloud looked at it closer. It felt... warm... alive somehow. Feeling excited, Cloud hurriedly got up to his feet, not noticing the small mako crystal fragments he set off to the side earlier._

_Feet stepping on the small fragments, he slipped. Trying to keep his balance, he stepped back to catch himself. Except his foot hit nothing but air. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened in horror. Shouting, Cloud clawed out at the air, trying to stop his fall. Closing his eyes, he screamed as he hit the mako. His back burned, and soon his entire body. Clenching his fists, he could only think of the pain and wanting it to end._

Cloud fell to his knees, feeling the same pain. Closing his eyes, he tried to bare with it, but it was excruciating. It was like being in that lab all over again. Opening his eyes again, he found his point of view changed. Now he was seeing everything from his younger self.

_Unbeknownst to him, the materia in his hand began to activate. A Cure materia. His right hand began to burn with greater intensity before a cool feeling began to sweep across his entire being. Cloud blinked rapidly, more tears falling across his face from the sudden relief._

_What? What was happening? No longer in pain, Cloud felt his feet touch the bottom of the small pool. It wasn't as deep as he had first thought. Now that he was no longer in pain, he realized that he was no longer completely submerged._

_Standing up, Cloud looked down at himself. At least what he could see, he couldn't see his lower half because of the mako. It was like his torso was cut off from the rest of his body and set on a mako platter._

_Shaking his head, Cloud climbed out of the mako pool, running out of the cave. Trembling from what should have killed him, he looked at the orb he was still holding. To his surprise, it was glowing. _

Cloud's vision swam and the cave disappeared. Everything became bright green and warm, like he was falling in the Lifestream. He could hear someone say to him,

"Good luck Cloud."

Then everything went black.

Cloud jolted awake with a gasp, snapping his eyes open. His mind racing through the dream again, wondering what it could mean. He hadn't had a dream like that before, was the Planet or Aerith trying to tell him something? Was another crisis going to happen? What was the point of the dream? Cloud slowly calmed down but choked when his eyes became focused.

Staring back down at him wasn't the outside sky, but the bottom of a bunk bed. Cloud felt his eyes widen, his pulse quicken, and his breathing nearly stop. He hadn't seen this bunk bed for over eight years.

The bunk bed he had slept in as a SOLDIER cadet.


	2. Curiouser and Curiouser

Posted: 7/12/10

Disclaimer: FF7 doesn't belong to me.

Second chapter for you guys. It might not be too exciting, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, but I'm just kind of making this stuff up as I go. But I'll do my best! And don't be shy to let me know what you think, it really helps me to come up with a different spin on this kind of story. So enjoy! Or hate it. If you don't like it... uh... thanks for reading anyways?

Revised: 1/12/11

* * *

Cloud Strife is not an idiot.

He had been an idiot years ago and _maybe_ he still had his moments from time to time, but that was expected.

All humans are prone to acts of stupidity, and Cloud was no exception.

However, he knew himself very well, probably a whole lot more than most people. Then again, he wasn't like most people was he? Given the ordeals he had to undergo throughout his life, it was quite impossible for Cloud _not_ to know himself. Not that he minded all too much nowadays, he was moving on with his life afterall, and as part of the process, he learned a lot about himself.

One thing Cloud learned was that he is a reasonably rational person with a surpisingly level head. He could keep his cool in fights, knew his limits, and knew when to push pass those limits. While he was an expert fighter, he had other 'fields of interest' as well. For example, Cloud knew quite a few things when it came to weapon design and mechanical egineering. Afterall, how else did he obtain Fenrir and First Tsurugi? He couldn't just _buy _them. He made them from _scratch_, but his situation rather demanded him to create these two masterpieces of creativity.

During the time he designed and forged them, Cloud had been quite the... uh... troubled soul at the time, to say the least. That is if a troubled soul consisted of a not-quite mentally sound individual that needed to kill a world-reknown hero and fighter. One that had basically went insane and was on a one way track to destroy the world. An insane hero that didn't seem to stay dead either. Even though it was sheer luck that Cloud killed Sephiroth the first time, the fact that this feat needed to be repeated more than once had just encouraged Cloud to make First Tsurugi and Fenrir.

What was used to make them and how they were constructed were questionable at best, but what worked, worked. As to how he named them, it was quite simple when it came to his blade. Cloud had made First Tsurugi, well, first. So he named his sword, 'First Sword'. Not all that creative, but it was just a name to call the project he was working on at the time. However, the name just sort of stuck and kind of grew on him. The name wasn't as important as the actual weapon itself, but giving First Tsurugi a name did make it seem more complete.

When it came to Fenrir, Cloud did put a lot more thought into the name of his beloved motorcycle, but for the moment that's irrevelant. There are some more pressing matters going on in Cloud's life, such as him waking up several years into the past, so back to the current topic at hand.

Cloud Strife is not an idiot.

So when his lips were turning blue, lungs starting to burn, and brain beginning to turn fuzzy, Cloud remembered the most important and basic task needed to live: breathing.

Quietly gasping in air, Cloud stayed calm. At least as calm as a person could be when they seemed to have woken up in the past. Assuming that he didn't suffer brain damage, Cloud quickly concluded that he was fine. Absolutely fine. Nothing wrong at all. Whatsoever.

'Remember to breathe. Inhale, exhale, repeat,' Cloud thought shakily, lungs burning again.

Breathing normally once more, Cloud sat up. He couldn't panic. Well, he _could_, just not yet. He needed to learn more about his present situation. Or was it past? Either way, he needed to know just what his _current_ situation was. Starting with when and where he was first, followed by why he was here and what he should do. _Then,_ he'll find a nice little nook or cranny to hide in so he could panic... and perhaps cry... just a little. Then eat some ice cream to cheer up.

_'Guh, when did I break up with someone? Get a grip on yourself and focus Strife! You got things to do.'_ Cloud reminded himself, shaking his head a little. Saving the world and other adventures aside, how did he manage to keep his friends again?

Rolling his eyes, Cloud turned his focus to the room around him. Now was not the time for panic and sarcasm, he'll save that for later. Ignoring the time travel ordeal, Cloud could see nothing out of the ordinary. His dorm room looked like it had the first time he had been here.

'When I was fourteen,' Cloud's eyes widened. Looking at his hands, he had remarkably smooth white skin. At the sight of his scrawny arms, Cloud wanted to run straight to the bathroom. Whether to throw up or see his reflection, he wasn't sure. Although, he was willing to bet that he would throw up either way. So why not delay the unpleasant experience of regurgitating the insides of his stomach?

Besides, as curious as he was to see what he looked like, that could wait for a little while more. He needed to find out the year and date. If he knew that, he'd be able to act like a normal cadet. Why even bother to act normal? Well, there was no point for Cloud to deny the very real possibility that he was unlikely going to return to his own time in the next few hours. And there was also the possibility that he wasn't hallucinating either, that was a good reason to act normal. So in the meantime, he could at least stay below the radar until he could form a real plan of action.

Focusing again on some sort of goal, Cloud rolled out of bed. Luckily for him, it was night time (if his fellow cadets sleeping soundly was anything to go by). But how much time did Cloud have before the morning wake up call sounded? If he wanted to do anything, Cloud needed to know how much time he had to do whatever he had in mind.

Looking along the walls, he immediately found the room's clock and learned that it was roughly three in the morning. The bright LED blue lights made it easy to find, and had been placed at the far wall in between the two rows of bunk beds. So if he had been entering the room, he would be facing the clock at the end of the aisle. Spotting something on the clock, Cloud witheld a frown. He wasn't quite sure, but he it looked like a button camera. He was being watched.

_'And if I was on the other end of that camera, I would see who came in, who was fighting, or who would try to sneak out and break curfew.'_

Now what to do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Cloud knew he was being watched. Great, he could use that information and deal with any problems he would have with the camera _later_, but he didn't need to worry about the camera since he wasn't going to do anything unusual. Cadets could be out of bed, they just had to be in their dorm room when lights went out. So what would be unusual about him being up for a few minutes from what could be passed as a bad dream? He just needed to stay calm and find out the date.

Finding a calendar near the entrance door, Cloud quickly walked over to it. Checking the first date that wasn't crossed off, it was Sunday, or Monday if the dates were crossed off the next day. Moving the calendar off the wall so he could find out the year, Cloud began to form a plan.

If he was lucky, it would be Sunday and he would have an extra day to find out what he was supposed to know. If not, Cloud needed to find his backpack to see what he was supposed to know at whatever age he was and find his schedule.

Looking at the year, Cloud blinked. He even rubbed his eyes. But the numbers remained the same. This couldn't be right. If this calendar was up-to-date, Cloud was born twelve years ago. There was no way Cloud could be twelve. He signed up when he was fourteen, and that was the minimum age requirement ShinRa had. And that's how old he _should _be.

This time, Cloud didn't stop running to the bathroom. However, the bathroom only had a toilet, sink, and mirror, all close together, which meant it was rather small. So when Cloud ran in, he bashed his shin against the toilet.

Normally, he would be unphased by a kick to the shin, but that was when he had more mako than an average SOLDIER First. Any injuries left behind healed up quickly, and as a result, the pain didn't linger. And as Cloud hopped on a foot holding his shin in pain, he quickly concluded that he did _not_ have any mako in his body.

Hitting his elbow against the metal sink, Cloud yelped, letting go of his shin in exchange for his elbow and leaning away from the sink. The stinging pain wasn't so bad, he had been through worse, but the pain still surprised him. Unfortunately, he stepped on a small puddle of water and slipped.

So now he was falling. Not only that, but his younger body hadn't gone through years of excruciating pain. He was accustomed to the pain mentally, but his younger body seemed to be far more sensitive than his older body in comparison. Cloud also learned that his reflexes were virtually gone as he hit his forehead against the bathroom door, slamming it shut, and crashing to the floor.

"...ow..." Cloud quietly wheezed, the breath knocked out of him. Rolling off his stomach and onto his side, he silently groaned. His nerves were a lot more receptive since his body hadn't physically gone through all the battles he had before. And since he hadn't gone through those fights in his younger body, all the reflexes he had ingrained through muscle memory didn't exist. This wasn't good, not even ten minutes and his life was already in danger from himself.

How depressing.

A minute of silence trickled by when Cloud gently sat up. At least he didn't wake up anyone, so now he could return to his attempt to look at himself in the mirror, slowly of course. Since the door was closed and he had no mako in his body to enhance his vision, the room was dark. However, there must have been light coming from under the door, because Cloud could just barely make out the room.

Reaching out for the sink, Cloud carefully stood up, quickly reviewing what he knew since waking up in the past. He was currently in the SOLDIER Prep Program, in his dorm room, at three in the morning. The clock had a small camera on it, meaning the room was being watched, but he'd worry about that later.

Today was either Sunday or Monday, and he would need to find his schedule and latest homework assignments to see what he learned so far and act accordingly. And if the calendar was up-to-date, he was only twelve when he should be fourteen.

Flicking the lights on, Cloud stared at his reflection puzzled. He wasn't that surprised at his younger reflection. That and he had been through too many things to be surprised by something like this. Honestly, seeing his face was rather anti-climatic. Other than his hair being spikier and face being younger, the experience was just strange, not all too surprising, albeit a bit painful from his earlier entrance.

Calmly scrubbing the small gashes on his temple and left elbow clean, he wasn't sure what to think of his eyes. They no longer had that mako glow he had gotten used to, he had his normal eyes again. He couldn't remember them ever having been such a vibrant sky blue.

He looked so young.

Pulling off his shirt to dry off his face and see what his body looked like, Cloud felt his heart clench. His skin wasn't the healthy tan he had, but the paler skin he had when he left at Nibelheim. He had some muscles, but still on the scrawny side. Looking at smooth skin, he couldn't see any scars. He only had a few from before the lab, the rest coming from being experimented on. But now they were gone, not a single trace of them ever existing. It was as if it never happened.

_'Because, technically, it didn't,'_ Cloud thought miserablly.

All his friends were strangers now. Besides Tifa, his friends were unaware of his existence. He was just a no-name kid from a back-water town. Cloud leaned heavily against the sink, resting his head against the mirror, sighing. It was like his whole life was wasted. Not only that, but all those deaths never meant anything.

_'No,' _he thought, _'they would never have died.._._ They're still alive... Zack and Aerith are alive!'_

Cloud looked up, smiling broadly. His two friends were still alive. Even if they didn't know him yet, he would find them again. If he could, he would right now. But to think, Zack and Aerith were still alive! Like that day on the cliff never happened, and Aerith was never killed by...

Sephiroth.

Cloud frowned. How could he forget that? If Zack and Aerith were both alive, that would mean Sephiroth was alive as well. His first thought was to kill the man and get it over with (again), but that was just plain stupid. Not only was that suicide, but the man wasn't trying to kill anybody, just people against ShinRa.

He was still the General of the ShinRa militaty and not insane. That was good, he supposed, but he never knew what Sephiroth was like as a person. As a fighter, yes, he fought the man several times after he had gone over the deep end, but he never really talked to the man, which could be a problem.

Cloud didn't know what the man could actually do now. Before it was rather simple, insane Sephiroth had wanted to basically destroy the world, but now... Cloud didn't know what the man was truly capable of, but he was willing to bet that the man was still as deadly as ever, if not more so.

What was worse, Sephiroth would be just as observant. And if anyone could read Cloud's face like an open book, it was Sephiroth. So staying as far away from the man as possible would be Cloud's first responsibility.

The last thing he needed was for the General himself to notice something different about him. Worst case scenario, he would be questioned by the silver-haired warrior himself. Although, Cloud mused what Sephiroth's reaction would be if he told him his life story, from now to the Reunion, to the time travel that brought him back to the start again.

And in all likelihood, the General would either believe him, or believe that Cloud was delusional and thought what he was saying was true. Oh, that would just turn out absolutely _lovely_, especially since he had been delusional at one point.

_'Memo to me, memo to me: Stay as far away from Sephiroth as possible,'_ Cloud thought. Then he remembered the person he wanted to stay away from the most, almost shuddering in disgust.

Hojo.

The _last_ thing he wanted, was to be anywhere _near_ that slimy bastard. It was bad enough that nut job was alive again. If he got anywhere _close_ to his person, Cloud would not hold himself responsible for his actions.

If anything, he would make himself responsible for doing everything violent to the mad scientist. Actually, that was a good plan, but, because Cloud had priorities (and the fact that he would not put Hojo as a first priority in anything other than a hit list) he would set that plan as a secondary mission: Make Hojo's life miserable.

Now back to his primary mission, well, he didn't actually have one, but he had the goal of finding out why he was twelve when his reflection looked a bit older. Stepping out of the bathroom, Cloud walked over to his foot locker at the end of his bed.

If his name wasn't literally on it, he probably would have winded up searching his bunkmate's locker. Although he identified his locker, he forgot the combination to it.

Thankfully, befriending an ex-Turk (that he had found sleeping in a coffin) had the benefit of lock-picking lessons. Now, the lock didn't have a key hole, but Cloud had also learned how to crack them. So less than ten minutes and nearly a hundred combinations later, Cloud had finally opened his locker, making a mental note of what his combination was. All the camera would have seen though was his back and a lot of head scratching. Just a cadet who temporarily forgot his combination.

Inside the locker were a few SOLDIER Prep uniforms, underneath them were his casual clothes, a pair of tennis shoes, and an extra pair of combat boots. He pulled out a plain black messanger bag, but after a quick look in the main pocket, there was nothing in it besides a few blank compostion books. What happened to his textbooks? As far as Cloud knew, cadets only recieved foot lockers. So if his textbooks weren't in a hallway or gym locker, where were they?

Cloud pushed his clothes aside and found a small shoe box. It wasn't a textbook, but hopefully it would have his ID or something. Pulling the lid off, he found all his personal items and knick-knacks. Holding up a picture, Cloud smiled. It was a picture of him and his mom in the kitchen. His mom was still alive... He would need to pay a visit to her, maybe he could write a letter to her in a few days.

And no, Cloud was not crying. He just got some dust in his eye.

Returning his attention to his locker, Cloud rummaged through the box some more. There was nothing much in it. Some pictures and letters from his mom, the newspaper article that inspired Cloud to sign up for SOLDIER, a wristwatch, a stop watch, a flashlight, and... a necklace?

Lifting it up, Cloud recognized his mother's handiwork, mako jewelry. It was a pendant that consisted of a wire mesh net attached by a metal ring to a medium-length chain necklace. And underneath the small metal links of the mesh net was a Cure materia. The same naturally-formed materia he had in his dream.

"Hmm... curiouser and curiouser," Cloud quietly mumbled.


	3. High Thread Count

Posted: 7/15/10

Disclaimer: FF7 does not belong to me.

This chapter might be boring, but it should help explain a few things. At least for Cloud. But after this, I promise things will pick up! Once I actually start on the next chapter of course. I upload as I finish them, and I'm making it up as I go, sorta. And sorry for simple mistakes like spelling errors. I proof-read them myself, and after reading the same thing over twenty times, I just want to get it posted and over with. So please be patient and bare with me and thank you for the reviews! And I hope this chapter explains or answers a question you might of had, particularily about Cloud's age. Hope it clear up any confusion or concerns you may of had. Again thanks for reading!

Revised: 1/12/11

* * *

Cloud was resting on his bed again, staring at the bottom of the mattress above him. For the moment, he was keeping his mind carefully blank, by counting the number of stitches that he could see.

_'Six thousand three hundred thirty-eight..., six thousand three hundred thirty-nine... six thous- Oh for the love of- There are six thousand four hundred seventy-three stitches!... I already counted each and everyone of them! Twice!' _Cloud thought in frustration, finally bored with counting.

Cloud didn't enjoy waiting for something to happen when he had nothing to do. He didn't mind the actual act of waiting, he was patient. However, the more nerve-wracking the wait was for Cloud, the more he needed something to distract him, which was rather easy because he could entertain himself with the most mundane activity.

Like counting six thousand four hundred seventy-three stitches. Three times. Well, almost, he stopped counting at six thousand three hundred thirty-nine on the third round. Although he did have to start over after losing count half-way through once, so technically he did count three times... Nonetheless, that was an acute case of self-head-bashing-syndrome just waiting to happen on the nearest hard surface. And that metal bed post had been looking very friendly and inviting to Cloud for the last ten minutes.

_'Stop it,' _Cloud lazily ordered,_ 'You need to keep yourself together_._'_

There was a reason for his odd counting though. Not that it was entirely odd of course, Cloud had used the even numbers too.

The first time he counted the thread stitches, it was simply to occupy himself and pass the time. The second time he counted them, he realized he was nervous and needed something to do. By the third count, Cloud had simply became agitated with his boredom and nervous waiting. That and Cloud was tired of looking at the same interweaving paths of thread, which had been doing for the last... hour and ten minutes...

But there wasn't anything else to do! He had more fun being a prisoner! (excluding the underground lab of course) At least then he could entertain himself by escaping... or playing prisoner and making his captors question his sanity and their own.

Actually, he learned a song from Yuffie when they both had been held captive. Well, more like she had convinced Cloud not to break out so she could sing a prison song she composed of herself. Cloud laughed at the memory. That song was an hour long and the guards were ready to cry themselves to sleep when their shift was done. That wasn't the funny part though.

The guards had no idea who was singing. Yuffie was gagged beforehand (no surprise there), but she could throw her voice just as well as she could throw her fuma shruriken. Not only that, but Yuffie had a surprisingly wonderful singing voice, although the echoing made it sound haunting. No one else knew about Yuffie's secret singing since he was sworn to secrecy though. Not that Cloud would have told anyone, he wasn't the kind of person to embarrass a friend, no matter how annoying they could be.

Cloud shook his head at the memory, but he had to admit that it made wonderful black-mail material against Yuffie. Or as Cloud lovingly called it, a healthy dose of 'Ninja Theif Repellent' to keep his materia safely within his possession. Although he wished Yuffie could come and try to steal the materia in his locker, because having a friend steal your materia was better than having no friend to steal it.

Cloud shook his head again, he was not going down that train of thought again. Instead, he focused on reviewing what he had found after finding the Cure materia, which was nothing. Cloud had not found a single text book, homework assignment, or ID like he thought he would. He was tempted to scour the entire building just to escape the boredom and find some much needed information, but smartly refrained from doing so.

Besides, he wouldn't have found his books anyway, because he did find proof that would confirm that he had no books checked out in his name yet. See, what Cloud had found instead, was a small letter of congradulations from ShinRa. While he was happy about recieving it before, he wasn't as ecstatic now. The small letter had read:

Blah, blah, blah. Get ID, schedule, and books after breakfast before the mandatory orientation this Monday. The General and Commandars will be there. Don't miss it. ShinRa mumble jumble. Training starts Tuesday.

That was basically it in a nutshell. And Cloud couldn't read the letter anymore because he already memorized it. As well as translated it into several languages and encrypted it several times over. Cloud had learned a lot during his travels, both before and (especially) after the Reunion.

But as great as that was, Cloud couldn't do anything like practice katas or basic fighting styles. Not only did he know a lot of things no kid from Nibelheim should know, but he also had no idea what cadets were taught. As inconvenient as it was, Cloud didn't blame himself for not remembering, at least not too much. Afterall, he had a lot more important things going on at the time: like everything that happened after failing SOLDIER.

Cloud had thought about just leaving ShinRa altogether, but if he was sent here to stop Sephiroth (as well as JENOVA, but Cloud didn't want to get too far ahead of himself yet), then there was virtually no way for Cloud to stop him without mako. And the only two ways to get the mako he needed, was either through painful experimentation by a sadistic scientist or passing the SOLDIER Exams.

_'Yeah, real hard decision there,'_ Cloud thought, _'But how much would that change things?'_

If Cloud actually passed the SOLDIER Exam this time, would he be strong enough by the time Sephiroth was sent to Nibelheim? That was his main concern, if he did go through with the program, he didn't know how long it would take him to become a SOLDIER First. And how was he supposed to stop Sephiroth if the Nibelheim mission was assigned early? What then?

_'Gaia, what am I supposed to do?'_ Cloud thought miserablly.

For now, the only move Cloud could make was stay in the SOLDIER Program and pass the Exams. If Cloud couldn't get mako into his body again, there would be no one to save the Planet if and _when_ JENOVA got a hold of Sephiroth. Cloud rolled over and groaned. He had no other real choice but to stay and train for SOLDIER. As much as this sucked, the only thing worse than that at the moment was having to wait for the day to begin with absolutely nothing to do.

He couldn't even read a manual with all the rules and regulations in it because cadets weren't issued one until they picked up their text books at the library. Yes, he was so bored, he was willing to sit down and read the _entire_ manual in one sitting. Unfortunately, Cloud had no books to read and wouldn't until after breakfast. With no books to read, and a camera watching any major movements, there was only so much to do... like counting the stitching on a mattress.

Burying his face in his pillow, Cloud sighed. He couldn't practice with his Cure materia because of the camera, and Cloud wasn't willing to risk having the only materia he had confiscated. He couldn't remember if there was a rule about it being contraband for cadets.

That, and after losing, well, _all _his friends and possessions, including Fenrir, First Tsurugi, _and_ his materia, Cloud would be keeping his only materia under lock and key. Until he could find a private place to practice, there was to be absolutely _no _playing with the shiny green orb of healing magic whatsoever. He didn't even bother with the two new gashes he got from his earlier trip to the bathroom.

Having already gathererd all the information he could about himself and unable to use his materia, Cloud had began on the next activity to occupy himself: Theories.

When he had first ran into the bathroom and saw his reflection, Cloud thought he was twelve albeit with a slightly more mature appearance. That had sent his mind reeling. For the first twenty minutes he had been lying back in his bed, Cloud had been baffled, confused, then puzzled. In that order. Thankfully, his mind stopped spinning in circles long enough for Cloud to think and realize one crucial fact:

ShinRa had an age limit for all new recruits.

The only reason he remembered was because he had barely passed it by a _day_. The recruitment age limit was fourteen, and it was strictly enforced. And the background checks ShinRa did would have caught on to his true age if he had lied. There would have been no possible way for Cloud to have join before being fourteen. The main reason for that was because mako injections had adverse affects on someone younger than fourteen. And the last thing ShinRa wanted was to waste their precious, specially filtered and formulated mako by killing a kid who had enough talent to get into SOLDIER.

Even if the kid had an inconceivable amount of potential, they wouldn't be able to physically withstand the long-term affects of the mako injections until roughly around the age of fourteen, and as such, would be kicked out of the program. And ShinRa wouldn't wait for the kid to grow up as they trained him, since it was possible they wouldn't have the needed tolerance for mako in the end anyway, so they would'nt train someone longer than need be. And one fact that remained consistent, from cruel corporation to repentative resource provider, ShinRa didn't waste time or money.

How Cloud came to know that wasn't something he wanted to reflect on anymore than he had already. And how ShinRa knew to what extent the affects of mako were, made Cloud sick to his stomach to think that Hojo didn't have as many personal experiments as everyone else thought. That was another reason why Rufus had wanted to help make things right in the world again.

Shaking off depressing thoughts, Cloud concluded that he was fourteen at the youngest, although he was likely a bit older judging by his reflection. However, earlier he had been comparing his reflection with his older self, so the age difference was a bit exaggerated by Cloud's slightly panicked thinking, despite how calm he had been at the time. There was also the fact that he hadn't seen a his younger reflection in over a decade, and that a picture of him during his childhood no longer existed because everything burned during the Nibelheim Incident...

Cloud sighed, ignoring any sad feeling he had at the moment. Either way, he'll know what his age was since it would be on his ID, but he wouldn't get that for several more hours. Until then, he knew he was somewhere between the ages of fourteen and fifteen. But there had to be a reason for the discrepancy between his physical age and his age according to what his birth year should be. After several minutes of thinking, Cloud came up with two theories to explain why he was 'twelve' according to his birthdate, while his body was at least fourteen:

1.) Memory Loss

It was possible, since he had his memories muddled with Zack's at one point. Although Cloud highly doubted that was the case. Even if he had forgotten when he was born, Tifa would have known at least the year since she was two years his junior. And Cloud was sure Tifa wouldn't have made a mistake when she helped reconstruct his memories, especially since the Lifestream itself had helped and basically _supervised _the entire process.

The Lifestream was where _all _souls gathered... including his mother... But no one besides Cloud and Tifa knew about that specific detail. Aerith could have possibly known, being part Cetra, but she never mentioned anything about it, for which Cloud was thankful for if she had known. Or:

2.) The Planet

Cloud was 99.9% positive that the Planet was responsible for him being here. He didn't know exactly why, but he guessed on how it happened. Somehow using the Lifestream, Gaia had either sent him back in time, to an alternate universe, or a combination of the two. That would explain his age and absence of mako.

However, for some reason beyond him, Gaia had made it so that he was born two years earlier. Why he needed to be born two years earlier, he didn't know other than to possibly becoming stronger sooner. But he didn't know for what reason, other than defeating Sephiroth again. Yet, it just didn't make sense. What point was there for Cloud to repeat something he already did, but move the deadline two years closer?

Cloud fully believed his second theory was correct, that the Planet was responsible, but he just hoped that Gaia was willing to give him some help by explaining why. Even if it was only a partial explanation, it would get Cloud a lot further than where he was now. Having finally gotten his slightly far-fetched and confusing theories on his age out of the way, Cloud sighed, making himself comfortable on his bed again.

Other than his age, why and how he got here, and worrying about the orientation, Cloud had nothing else to do. He already thought about finding a way back, but he was sure that if the Planet had been involved, he wouldn't be returning back to his preivious life.

He already thought about his friends and he didn't want to think anymore on that subject unless he became depressed again from what could have happened to them. Having gone down that route before, Cloud wanted to at least postpone _that_ pleasant experience.

Back to conspiring possible theories to explain other strange phenomenon, Cloud only had one far-fetched idea that explained why he had a Cure materia in his posession. The dream he had was strange from the beginning. He saw his life basically rewind before it stopped. When the 'scene' in front of him 'played', he was reliving a memory that he didn't have as a memory. Which had been confusing in hindsight.

If the Planet had sent him back, Gaia had probably been responsible for his younger self using the mako caves as a hiding spot that day. But why would Gaia have wanted him to fall in a pool of _mako_. Mako injections were one thing, they were painful but he lived since he had enough of a tolerance. But a pool of mako wasn't specailly treated like the injections, it would kill you within an hour, minutes if you were lucky. But it couldn't have been mako from the reactor, the caves had kept it isolated. However, the fact remains that Cloud fell into a pool of mako. As a _kid_.

Cloud should have died. In fact, he should be dead and floating in the Lifestream right now. But Cloud had two possible explanations. The mako had looked different somehow, and now he remembered why. It was pure mako. It wasn't the mako used to make SOLDIERs and it wasn't the mako waste that accumulated as a by-product from a reactor, but _pure_ mako from a spring. Pure mako was essentially the life blood of the Planet.

Until that dream/memory, he had never encountered pure mako. That is, he had never touched pure mako before, let alone fallen into a pool of it. But he supposed that pure mako had different effects on the body than injections. There was also the fact that he was holding onto the Cure materia at the time.

Since the materia had been formed in the pool he had fallen, the pure mako would have no affect on something it created. Once Cloud activated the Cure materia, he was unaffeccted by the mako since the casted spell had probably served as some sort of barrier. That was his educated guess anyway.

Looking at his watch, it was five thirty in the morning. Cloud had investigated and thought up his theories in fifty-five minutes, an hour and a half counting the six thousand four hundred seventy-three stitches on the mattress above him three times, and the last five minutes summing everything that happened in the whole two hours he had been here.

Resting, he didn't bother to try and sleep, as it would be a useless attempt. Cloud was sure he still had his insomnia, so no sleeping until two days from now. Oh joy. He didn't bother with trying to exercise, because again, he didn't know what he was supposed to know. And the risk of losing his materia had left Cloud to count the stitching above him.

The only thing he had left to do was read the ShinRa letter that had congradulated him or the newspaper clipping that had originally inspired him to join SOLDIER. Cloud had refused to read either of them. He refused to read the letter because he already did everything he could do to it without burning or ripping it. He even used it for origami. In fact, there was a little paper crane guarding the Cure materia in his locker for him right now.

While he refused to read the letter again (as well as the few from Nibelheim, but for different reasons), Cloud did not even open the folded newspaper clipping. He didn't even want to see it. The reason was simple, he didn't want to see Sephiroth. Not even a picture. It was bad enough he had to be in the same building, and later the same room. Direct confrontation or not, he didn't want to be anywhere near the man. Everytime something involved Sephiroth, nothing good ever came from it unless the silver-haired warrior ended up dead. And Cloud was tired of it.

He was tired of always having to deal with Sephiroth. To chase Sephiroth. To fight Sephiroth. To kill Sephiroth. To hate Sephiroth. After a seemingly life-time of fighting, and it was like none of it mattered. And seeing Sephiroth would just prove that all of Cloud's efforts were for nothing...

So Cloud didn't want to see him _or_ a picture of the man.

But that was the past, or future, or past-future -whatever- Sephiroth wasn't the insane arbinger of death. Besides, something about the newspaper clipping kept nagging at him. So Cloud, being the bored soul he was, opened his locker again to get it. Boredom wasn't his only motivation for retrieving the cut-out article though, something just didn't add up.

Cloud was born two years earlier, which means he couldn't have gotten the original newspaper that inspired him last time. If he had, that would mean that everything else, like the war with Wutai, would have happened two years earlier as well. That made less sense than just Cloud being born two years earlier. All that would have changed would be the year, which would be pointless. And Cloud wasn't stupid enough to believe the Planet would do something as useless as that, since sending Cloud into the past must have taken nearly all its power to do.

So the real question was, assuming that the war with Wutai had either yet to occur or was still ongoing, then what had inspired Cloud to join SOLDIER?

As Cloud lifted the paper up, the loud wake up call sounded. Jumping slightly at the sudden sound, Cloud set the paper on his bed, grabbing a SOLDIER cadet uniform and pair of boots. Glancing at the clock, it was now six. He rolled his eyes.

_'Typical,'_ Cloud thought,_ 'Time speeds up when I actually have something _interesting_ to do.'_

As the other cadets got up, mumbling or cursing, Cloud had already changed into his pants. As he changed shirts, he sat down on the bunk to tie his shoes. Unfolding the paper, Cloud read the article title:

**"Interview with Professor Hojo on the Making of a SOLDIER"**


	4. I See Dead People

Posted: 7/21/10

Alright, for those who have been dying to read this next chapter, Cloud talks to other people! Cloud has some human interaction as well as some altercations and even sees a puppy. Hope you enjoy it! I got a rough idea of what chapter five will be, and I'm starting to think a bit on what will happen after that. Sorry about any simple mistakes, hopefully they're not too obvious. And I must apologize if my updates get slower. My vacation's almost over and I'll have to get back to school soon and I have yet to start on my homework. So... yeah, I'll have to work on that pretty soon, but I'll keep working on my story.

Revised: 1/12/11

* * *

The mess hall was nearly empty since wake-up call had barely sounded about three minutes ago, with only a couple dozen cadets eating their first meal of the day. A few were ready to face it head on, but most were still waking up a little, and the rest were lucky to be half-concious, whether they got out of bed on their own or not. Whatever state of awareness a cadet was in though, they were all eating breakfast. With the exceptions of the small few who fell back to sleep and the fewer yet who were starting to drown in their cereal bowl.

There were plenty of empty seats. The only tables with cadets were at the front of the mess hall, closest to the front entrance. Most of the front tables had either a small group or a few scattered individuals. Some were casually chatting or otherwise enjoying the silence before the morning rush. Speaking, eating, or being quiet, everyone showed some sign of nervous and excited energy about today's orientation.

Only one cadet didn't share their enthusiasm. He was sitting by himself at the table furthest away from any people, close to the back entrance, calmly eating a bowl of cereal. His self-imposed isolation didn't invite anyone to him, and the cold, blank look on his face chilled the air around him. His face gave nothing away as to what he was thinking, which was just as well, since anyone would be questioning his current sanity.

_'I do not see dead people... I do not see ghosts... I do not see zombies..,' _Cloud slowly continued to repeat this mantra, _'I do not see dead people... I do not see ghosts... I do not see zombies...'_

Cloud did not like his life at the moment. Right now, he was imagining that he was not sitting in a mess hall, but some place else. Away from here. Where things are normal and he was _moving on_ _with his life_. Why imagine? Simple, imagination is the best way to say: _Fuck__you__Reality_. Because right now, his reality was eating breakfast in a room with people he saw die. That was not only creepy for Cloud to see the younger faces of once-dead people, but aslo rather eerie.

Some of those people had turned out to be future rogue SOLDIERs. Nameless SOLDIERs that Cloud had killed during his hunt for Sephiroth. To say he was disturbed by the omnimous feeling was putting it lightly. That and there was something about starting the day with the profound fact that Cloud had signed up for SOLDIER because of an interview article with _Hojo_.

A small cracking noise warned Cloud to ease his grip on the plastic spork. Eyeing the small fracture on the handle, Cloud deemed it sturdy enough to continue using. Lightly dunking it into his cereal that tasted oddly of card board, he wondered not for the first time if the food was really safe to eat. ShinRa may be penny-pinchers, but hopefully they bought food that wasn't poisoned.

He nearly snorted at the idea, the company was a power-hungry war-machine that dropped part of the plate on an _entire sector, _damning the consequences of civillian casualties. He doubted that they really give a damn about a group of _cadets_. But then again, ShinRa would be concerned about a cadet that had the potential to become a powerful SOLDIER. Of course, in the end a SOLDIER would only be useful to ShinRa as long as they were obedient and under their control. Nothing more than asset, a tool, a _puppet _to them.

Cloud heard the plastic handle crack again before he set it down. He duly noted that being called a puppet was still a sore subject after all this time, even though it was said by himself, because it had been true. Determinedly pushing back any negative thoughts that was brought up, he would have to deal with his issues later, in private, not in a mess hall with people. At the moment, he really needed to keep his anger under better control.

He was side-tracking now, it made sense for him to sign-up for SOLDIER because of that article. Hojo had talked about how qualified recruits were introduced to mako and were steadily given a certain regiment of injections until they reached the status of SOLDIER. Before being injected into a possible candidate, the mako was specially treated and filtered through a classified process.

The resulting mako that was used for the injections gave the recruit the strength and agility of a SOLDIER without the fatal symptons of mako poisoning. If the Cure materia that Cloud found was anything to go by, he had apparently fallen into a pool of mako and survived without mako poisoning and the common subsequent sympton for his age of, well, _death_. So joining SOLDIER would be a logical choice.

If there were long-term effects he didn't know about, then he was more likely to get help by going through the injections. While adding more mako to a potentially mako-poisoned person wouldn't normally make sense, at the moment it made as much sense to Cloud as everything else he theorized this morning. Or if he failed the exams like last time, and became a ShinRa trooper again, at least he would obtain a job that could pay for treatment.

Because if something happened to him while he was still in Nibelheim, there was no way he and his mom could pay for any sort of treatment when they were near-poor themselves. Hojo and everything else he didn't like about this place aside, it was a good choice for Cloud to make because it was the only choice to be made really.

Focusing back on his cereal, he was determined to eat his breakfast. Taking another bite and feeling his stomach curl in on itself, he immediately changed his mind. He had his fair share of questionable and even disgusting food (like Grand Horn on flambe), but Cloud wasn't sure if they ever left him feeling as sick as eating a few bites of this... cereal.

He half-heartedly pushed his tray away form himself, sighing as he idly toyed with his near-broken spork. After somehow obtaining food poisoning in a million-to-one chance when he still had mako in his system, Cloud wasn't willing to risk getting food poisoning in a younger body that was far more susceptable to illness. He'd skip these 'meals' for a day or two if it meant he stay relatively healthy, despite the fact the he wouldn't be eating.

If it came down to it, he would live off the vending machines he seen within the building. It was entirely possible so long as he had the Gil for it. As he had once learned, if you needed to live completely anonymous in any metropalian enviroment, vending machines became your new best friend. No one was there to remember your face and small change was impossible to trace. As long as no one was stalking you and no cameras got a picture of your face, no one would know you existed.

Not only that, but you could actually survive very well solely off of vending machines. They had literally everything: food, drinks, disposable phones, DVDs, and ice cream. The only things he hadn't found so far were fish, fresh produce, and a small TV. Although that came as no surprise to Cloud, fish would smell, preserved or not. And fresh produce would spoil and rot before they were all bought, so he could only find fruit that had been dried and packaged.

And lastly, why would someone make a vending maching for small TVs? Cell phones, he could understand, they were a highly used commodity compared to TVs, as well as small enough to be simply packaged so it could survive a small fall when you made a purchase...

Cloud silently sighed, he was letting his mind wander again, but it came as no surprise, he could barely believe he was really here. Cloud stirred the likely-poisonous cereal around as he continued to sit there. He couldn't leave the mess hall yet until a SOLDIER came to address them about the orientation held later today and dismiss them. That wouldn't happen until the end of breakfast.

He thought about exploring the pristine building that was no longer a site of ruin, but cadets couldn't leave the mess hall until they were dismissed. Cloud knew that it was to prevent cadets from getting lost in the building, but since he already knew every corner of this place, including the secret lower levels, it rather unnecessary for him.

Looking at his watch, it was only five minutes after six, and breakfast was an hour long. So for the next fifty-five minutes, he would just sit there idly stirring his cereal, and not daring to try anything else on his tray. Well, at least playing with his food was more interesting than counting thread stitches.

Letting his mind go comfortingly blank, he began to feel gradually calmer, but Cloud didn't relax, however, until he double-checked where all possible exits were. Four double doors, one on each wall, and another exit somewhere through the kitchen if he hopped over the food bar at the right of the front entrance.

He thought about looking for cameras, but didn't see the point at the moment. He was going to be here for a while, and he knew that he was being watched in his dorm room anyway. It would be best for him to assume that his every move was being monitored. As long as he didn't go trying to kill Sephiroth or something just as extreme, he should be fine.

At last, he let himself relax slightly, letting himself lean against the table in an almost-slouch. Not that he ever slouched anymore, he couldn't, because no matter how unlikely it was that he would be attacked, there was always a possibility. And he never knew when disaster would strike at him again. Trouble seemed to follow him like that demented chocobo had after he casted Lure. That was a rather scary experience. Especially since it lasted well over a week.

Cloud shook his head again, that was beside the point, even if that incident had given him another reason as to why he could never bring himself to lower his guard completely. But he could relax, he figured, just this once. He wasn't saviour of the world anymore, just a normal cadet. Cloud smiled, and there were no demented chocobo following him either. Although, he was pretty sure that he wasn't normal, he was willing to bet that this would be as normal as he could get, just sitting at a table for breakfast.

So he did, and for once in a long time he slouched, back slightly curling in on itself and shoulders comfortably hunched, his posture completely relaxed, both body and mind. Breathing out a relaxed sigh, Cloud nearly choked when he felt someone stare at him. He remained relaxed, but his shoulders were already tensing at the eerie feeling. Someone was watching him. Not looking, not glancing, not even staring at him absent-mindedly, but _studying _him.

He knew what this feeling was. This feeling always came when someone was sizing him up, looking for weaknesses, any sign that he was an easy target. He always felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise when someone was _hunting_ him. Cloud witheld a shudder. Worst case scenario, Hojo was staring at him. Most likely-to-happen worst case scenario, _Sephiroth _was staring at him.

_'Of course,'_ he mentally spat with sarcasm_, 'The _second _I relax someone just had to chose that _one _moment to hunt me! Who the _hell _is thinking about killing me now?'_

Cloud was a patient person and keep his head on his shoulders, both literally and figuratively. And although he may never have admitted to being a morning person, even he was being pushed pass his patience and mental limit this morning. The sudden time-travel, Cloud had mostly accepted it. At least, the part that he was in the past, not quite everything else that was implied, but for now that would do.

Discovering that his dream-memory was more real than he had thought was disconcerting, but again, something he could handle. Learning that he was fourteen again when he should've been twelve... that had actually thrown him in for quite a loop, but then he remembered the Planet's involvement. Gaia must have a reason for him being born two years earlier.

Until he learned why, he wouldn't worry about it too much. However, finding that the reason he signed up for SOLDIER was the result of reading an interview article with _Hojo_, had been _very unpleasant_ to accept. Even though it did make sense, that was _really_ starting to push it, as evidenced by the first small fracture he made in his plastic spoon, er... spork rather.

If his morning didn't suck before, now someone was _hunting_ him. Maybe they wouldn't overtly hurt him with people around, but Cloud never took his instincts lightly. Besides, his patience and current mental stability was wearing _treacherously thin_.

So when Cloud casually looked around, he couldn't help but sigh in relief when he saw that it was only a small group of cadets walking his way. He had thought it was somebody important... someone more troublesome and higher up the chain of command... with silver hair...

When the tables with people were starting to go quiet, doing their best to avoid gaining the attention of the group, Cloud's brow creased slightly in confusion. Why was everyone staring at the group like that?... _Were_ they important?

At first, he thought that he made friends with the group during boot camp, since none of them were his dorm mates, since he had at least memorized all their faces before he left for breakfast. In retrospect, he probably should have stayed in his dorm room a longer, but Cloud had been rather... angry at the time.

As a matter of fact the first words out of his mouth when he read the article title was muttered, "...Oh _hell_ no..." So he left for breakfast early, before he killed something or someone. Even though Cloud was angry- furious- he had sense enough to leave before someone noticed. He originally arrived here early to wait for any friend he might have.

However, no one was really up yet, so Cloud assumed that he knew the group of cadets who were walking towards him, even though they were recieving several glares of quiet anger from the few people at the front of the room. As to why everyone in the room so far seemed to hate them, well... nobody really liked Cloud back in Nibelheim, so what else is new? It wouldn't be too far of a stretch if his friends were hated too. Although it was rather unlikely.

That feeling of being stared at was there for a reason, and that's when Cloud noted several things about the group that began to raise a few red flags. Assessing the group for himself, he counted only five of them walking his way, but all their attention focused soley on him.

They were smiling and looked friendly enough at a first glance unless someone knew what to look for: an arrogant air about them, confidence walking as a group, a wicked gleam in their eyes promising ill intent. Lastly, the most obvious sign of all:

"Hey Cloudy-boy!"

The leader of the group mockingly calling out to their target, Cloud Strife, or in this case... 'Cloudy-boy'. Resisting the strange urge to stand up and stab the boy in the eye with his spork, Cloud thought one word: Bullies.

Twirling the plastic utensil in one hand, he calmly stood up, thinking about what to do. Cloud _really_ didn't want to deal with something as juvenile as a bully issue. He had enough on his plate, so he had to stop the bullying before it went on any longer than it may already have. In order to do that, there was only one effective way to go about it, besides killing them of course.

_'There's always a catch isn't there?' _Cloud thought dryly.

He would have to fight the group. If he took out the leader, as in beat the crap out of him, then the rest would scatter. Even if some still picked on him, the important part was breaking up the group. The rest he could take on in individual fights with ease. It was basic bully psychology, also great for fighting against guerilla-warfare terrorist groups.

Picking up his tray, Cloud dumped it in a trash bin. He didn't want to aggravate them just yet, so he acknowledged their presence with a small wave and 'good morning', keeping his voice polite, but slightly hostile in warning. He wanted to seem like the kid he used to be, a quiet teen who kept to himself but wasn't afraid to fight back.

The small sign of hostility would irk the bullies since they would want to beat their prey more if they showed resistance, which was exactly why Cloud did it. He wanted the bullies to try and pick on him. He couldn't remember much about his cadet days, but he was sure he had been bullied constantly. And right now would be the perfect moment for him to find out how unpopular and picked on he was, as well as bring an end to any current and future bullying.

"No need for attitude blondie, we just wanted to say hi to ya and ask why you're still here. Little girls aren't aloud in SOLDIER." the bully leader said, now standing a few feet away from Cloud. The boy was a good foot taller than him and with a lot more muscles, it would have been intimidating, but he was still just a _boy_ compared to Cloud.

Cloud stood his ground, not perturbed in the least. He'd seen moogles more intimidating than him. (No, really he did, despite their fluffy appearances and chibi-sized bodies, some of them were pretty strong. There was a reason why they could raise the level of a materia.) Standing up before the group reached him had payed off like he expected. The boys were fanning out slightly to trap him, but Cloud had stood up to better position himself while under the guise of only dumping his breakfast.

After his earlier mishap in the bathroom, Cloud wasn't willing to bet that he would knew his surroundings intinctually, so he carefully surveyed the room earlier, and once again, his caution was paying off. Purposely standing in front of a table, facing the front of the mess hall, the bullies couldn't surround him. With a trash can to his right, it was within easy reach for Cloud to kick it as a distraction if need be.

He may not be as intimately aware of his surroundings, but he was confident that his younger body could stand up to a fight with a few cadets. If he timed things right, he would only have roughly a five second head start. If he hopped on the table and ran, the closest exit would be the back entrance behind him at the end of the table. Having already layed out his surroundings and escape routes, Cloud only needed to be civil and let the bullies start the confrontation for him.

The bully leader would be expecting an answer, but no matter what answer Cloud gave, he knew that the bully would just try and make a confrontation out of it. Cloud didn't really want a fight to happen, but he wanted to know what his 'reputation' in the ranks were. If he was a nobody little cadet, he needed to either keep that image or change it.

If he was having bully problems, Cloud was willing to do the latter, so long as he didn't gain too much attention from certain people. Now normally, Cloud would have remained silent, but his day had been far from normal, so he answered.

"Well, I passed the entrance exam, so I'm qualified to be here. Although, I already know that little girls are not aloud in SOLDIER, but thank you for telling me," Cloud politely answered, feigning ignorance to the insult, idly fiddling with the spork still in his hand.

"Yeah, but girls are weak, just like you Cloudy-boy. You don't belong here," the bully said.

Cloud nearly laughed at the irony. The bully had _no_ idea that he was actually right about Cloud not belonging here. He didn't care that he was being insulted, but he wasn't about to let the bully insult women, because that was a direct insult to his friends, whether they still remembered him or not.

"Girls may not be allowed in SOLDIER, but they aren't weak," Cloud retorted, thinking about Tifa. She could pack one hell of a punch.

"Last time I checked, the bitches stayed in the kitchen," the bully said condescendingly. Cloud felt his control quickly wittling away. Remembering a time when Tifa had punched Reno when he had drunkenly called her such a word at one point, he mentioned the Turks.

"And last time I checked, several women are high-ranking Turks," Cloud calmly countered.

"But they ain't SOLDIER are they?" the bully continued. Cloud restrained the urge to do an eye roll. To Cloud, both the situation he was in and the conversation he was having seemed far too simple, and neared ludicrous. Although, there was that familiar nagging suspicion that something was going to happen, and it had nothing to do with the bullies.

"Of course not, as we made clear earlier, women are not allowed in SOLDIER. However, that does not make them weak just because they cannot join SOLDIER. Afterall they can still be as deadly within the Turks," Cloud explained. Dear Gaia, he could swear he was losing brain cells just listening to the guy.

"What are you trying to say? You saying that SOLDIER isn't _good _enough for you? You want to go join the _TURKs_?" by now the bully was steadily raising his voice. The last comment he said catching the attention of the other cadets, although the mess hall had already been quiet with only a faint murmuring of hushed whispers.

At this point, Cloud was _this _close to looking at the bully like the idiot he was. Honestly, was this guy seriously _that_ dumb to go disrespecting the _TURKs _in front of witnesses and _cameras_? And who knows how many cameras- Cloud flickered his eyes around the room- there were potentially at least five hidden cameras he could see in a glance.

Well, now would be a good time to make his opinion on the matter _very _clear, he did not want the _TURKs _to have any reason to be even _remotely_ interested in _him_.

"All I am saying is that your wrong to assume that women are weak. However I did not imply that SOLDIER isn't good enough for me, nor did I make a comparison between the two about which one is the better choice. And if I had wanted to join the TURKs, I wouldn't be standing here right now," Cloud dead panned.

The brief silence that followed had everyone's attention riveted to the brewing confrontation, and the few cadets that had entered went by unnoticed as they remained quiet, quickly picking up on the rising tension in the room. The bully had no real come back to make, and had been appearing more and more of an idiot with each exchanging word during the last minute.

Several cadets were surprised by the short blonde, he should have been _acting _tough right now, getting more riled by the second, not standing calmly with a stoic face, giving smooth responses, and actually _being_ tough. Cloud seemed completely unfazed despite the group outnumbering him five to one. Did he get confidence or something from making it into the SOLDIER prep program?

During boot camp, Strife had simply been the kid that the bullies picked on constantly. Every time someone tried to help, they would get beaten up, so they stopped trying to help him in fights. Some tried to report or file a complaint to their commanding officers, but the same thing would happen. The bullies would always find out who had stepped foward, and the person who made the complaint would wind up in the infirmiry.

When things got worse, they eventually avoided Cloud altogether outside of classes. A few of his class mates still tried to help, such as letting him borrow notes when Cloud was getting patched up in the infirmary during classes. They wanted to do more, but with the bully leader somehow knowing about any complaints, there wasn't much they could do. However, it looked like Strife could and was going to actually put an end to it today.

When the front doors opened again, no one noticed, it was probably just another cadet, a few had entered earlier anyway so it wasn't important. Everyone's attention was focused on Cloud and the bullies, their backs to the newcomer. Cloud, however, was facing everyone else and had seen every new face that came to the room. When he saw the latest new comer though, Cloud felt his body become stock still.

A small crack sounded in the air, the plastic spoon Cloud had been holding snapped clean in two as his fists clenched, knuckles going white. He could feel the sharp plastic starting to bite into his palm, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Cloud may be one hell of a strong fighter in both mind and body, but everything that happened to him this morning was steadily rising to a crescendo waiting to come crashing down any moment. He was a mental break-down waiting to happen, and seeing the person who entered through the doors was the last straw.

One of the other bullies stepped foward, "What's the matter, you scared? You know what Trent, I think it's time to give Strife his first lesson here," grinning when he heard the spoon snap and saw Cloud's face growing pale.

Trent nodded, "Yeah, I think you're right Carl. Let's teach _Cloud_, that _weaklings_ like him shouldn't be here in SOLDIER," cracking his knuckles. Cloud looked deathly pale now, but not because of the bullies. He didn't notice a single person other than the eyes of the person who entered the room staring back at him.

When he heard a fist coming his way, Cloud didn't think twice to dodge. He quickly performed a swift sidestep as he maintained eye contact with the new comer. Cloud wasn't even aware of his action, his attention completely focused on the violet eyes gazing into his own sky blue ones. He didn't want to lose sight of them, he didn't want them to disappear. He feared he lose him again.

When a pair of hands grabbed on to each of his arms, Cloud no longer had any restaint left and his awareness on reality had long since eroded. The shock of Cloud's situation was taking it's toll on him, his mind finally undergoing a nervous mental breakdown. He didn't see a mess hall anymore, but the cliffs outside of Midgar.

It was just like the nightmares he had after regaining his true memory and trusting in himself again. Everytime he had that dream, the same thing would happen. He would wake up from his mako coma like before, only this time he could move perfectly fine. He'd run to go rescue Zack, but everytime he was within sight of Zack and ready to help him, somebody was always holding him back.

They never had a face, just a figure made of shadows, but the result was always the same. He could see his friend again, could walk up to him if he wanted to, but he was held back, and he could do nothing but watch Zack die again, but alone and in far more agony. Even as he struggled against his captors, he was always held back, just like now.

He knew that this dream was some how different and that he could reach his friend, but he couldn't figure out why. It didn't matter though, the only two things he could acknowledge at that moment was that he could reach his friend and his battle instincts. All that registered through his mind was that the people holding him back were stopping him from reaching his friend. Cloud's eyes grew stormy as his emotions flared.

He no longer saw cadets on the cliff with him, but the same shadowy figures that kept holding him back. One shadow moved towards him, and when Cloud felt that he could move from under the other shadowy creatures' grips, he focused on breaking free to reach Zack, he had to! There were several of those shadows surrounding him already! He had to help him! Heart racing, blood pounding, and adrenaline rushing, Cloud struggled free.

The leader of the shadowy figures moved in to punch at him with a clawed fist, but Cloud was already moving. Leaning back, Cloud kicked the leader squarely in the chest. It stumbled backwards, and the two dark creatures holding him were forced to loosen their grips as Cloud fell back onto a flat boulder.

Yanking his arms out of their hands, Cloud swung his legs to the side, kicking the throat one of creatures that had pinned. It gave a choked shout as it stumbled back, doubled over as it coughed in pain. Planting his feet on a flat ledge on the boulder's side, Cloud sat up, avoiding the other creature trying to pin him down again.

"Get him!" the leader shouted as it rose from the dirt again. Two shadows lunged at him, Cloud stood up, jumping off the edge of the boulder and over the dark figures. The shadows lunging at him shouted in surprise, stumbling to slow down, but unable to stop and stand up in time.

Using one of the shadow's backs as a perch, Cloud leaped down to the floor, knocking the creature to the parched earth beneath him. Grabbing at the back of the other one, he used his foot to trip it, slamming it on the back of the creature he had just stepped on. Spinning around, Cloud ran a few steps closer to Zack before the leader tried to clothesline him.

Leaning far back, Cloud caught the arm in his hands, letting his momentum slide his feet further on the dirt underneath him. Letting go of the arm and quickly turning around, Cloud continued to fall to the ground face first. Using his hands to catch himself in a push-up position and quickly crouching, he spun on the heel of his hand to send a viscious sweeping kick at the person who tried to clothesline him.

The shadowy person's legs were swept from under him and he dropped to the ground, narrowly missing a jagged boulder. He brought his legs under him to break into a sprint, but someone tackled him from the side. Crashing onto the floor, Cloud's frustration rose and he struggled with renew vigor. He almost shoved the creature off, but it managed to gain a grip on his legs.

Cloud sat up to punch the creature, but the leader managed to crawl to him and pull him into a headlock, cutting off air to his lungs. He struggled and kicked, but the creature pinning down his legs made it an impossible task and he couldn't break free. Cloud's vision began to blur and he was close to losing conciousness when he heard Zack shouting at them.

The creature choking him seemed to flinch, and the one holding his legs practically let go. Cloud seized the chance to break free instantly. Lifting his right leg up, he kicked his foot out, stomping his boot into the shadow's face. A howl of pain quickly followed and it cried out again as he sent another kick to make sure it didn't get up again anytime soon. He could hear Zack shouting still and the sound of running footsteps. Cloud needed to get up, he had to be ready to help him.

The creatures had him immobilized once, he couldn't let his legs get pinned down again. But he was still being held in a choke hold. In fact, it got tighter after Zack's shout and it was whispering something into his ear, but all Cloud heard were snarls and hisses. Cloud's eyes were beginning to water as most of the blood flowing to his brain being cut off, he needed to act _now._

Thrusting his hands back, he hit the creature dead center in the face. Before it could recover, he pulled his arms back down. Cloud felt one of his hands holding a sharp piece of plastic in his hands, he couldn't remember where he had obtained it from, but he didn't care, he just used it.

Slamming the sharp point down on the arm holding him, Cloud stabbed the offending limb choking him. The creature screamed in pain, before being forced to let go as Cloud elbowed it in the gut and sent a blind punch behind him, feeling something give in slightly and hearing an accompanying small crunch.

Shoving the thing off of him, he rolled away and staggered to his feet. Cloud looked around for Zack, but he couldn't see him anywhere, just more of those damn creatures along the cliffs. Where was he? Cloud took a step foward, stumbling as the sudden blood rush left him dizzy and the scene around him changed.

He was no longer on the cliff, but in a mess hall. He looked at the creatures and the shadows soon faded away, leaving nothing but cadets. Cloud slowly blinked in dizzy confusion, his eyes still watering as he tried to breathe. Wasn't he fighting those creatures, what happened to them?

No, wait, what was the place? Why was he in a mess hall? Hadn't he just been paying a visit to Zack's grave and- Realization hit him like a brick to the head when the memories of the last few hours returned to him: the dream, waking up in the past, the materia, the article... the bullies... and... Zack!

Cloud slowly blinked again and looked around seeing five cadets on the floor in pain. Looking up, he saw Zack running towards him and the hurt cadets. Cloud could feel himself panicking. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was only supposed to beat up the bullies, but not like this! And he wasn't supposed to meet Zack yet! Zack wasn't supposed to be here! Hell, _he_ wasn't supposed to even be here!

What could he do now? He had to do something, but he couldn't think. Holding a hand to his head, he really couldn't think, he didn't have any air in his lungs. Falling to his knees, he tried to calm down, but he was dizzy from the blood still rushing back to his brain, and panicking from the realization that he wasn't supposed to meet Zack yetor be any where near him.

Cloud struggled to breathe, but he could barely get in a few small gasps, it wasn't enough. Blinking rapidly, he tried to get the black spots in his vision to recede, but it continued to steadily spread. Cloud looked up in panic as Zack kneeled in front of him, talking into a PHS. He could barely believe what he was seeing, even as his vision and hearing began to fade in and out.

"Bring a medical... hurry!... One of them..."

Cloud blinked, his eyes closing more and more.

"-choked for... bleeding, and.."

Zack's hair was short, just like it was when Cloud had first met him. Zack grabbed Cloud's shoulder, shaking it gently.

"Hey, can you... don't pass out... will arrive soon..."

Cloud could barely hear what he was saying, let alone understand him, but he didn't mind. He missed his friend so much.

Zack raised his PHS to his ear again, "... move faster.. -eal! He had... could be... -ying right now!..."

As his eyes slid close, Cloud couldn't remember why he was so worried earlier, but it didn't matter. Falling foward, he could feel Zack catch him. If he had the energy to, he would have smiled. He felt safe, safer than he had in years. Cloud felt tired, his muscles relaxing and body becoming limp.

_'Zack wouldn't mind if I just took a small nap...'_ was Cloud's last thought as he finally fell into dark slumber, unknowingly falling unconcious.


	5. No Air, No Pulse

Posted: 7/26/10

Disclaimer: FF7 doesn't belong to me.

Here's another chapter. I should really get my work done. Originally this was going to be a bit longer, but I moved about three pages to the next chapter because the changed POV. Speaking of which, this is what happens from Zack's POV, before and after Cloud passed out. I looked at this chapter too many times, so I mostly skipped the spell check. I wanted to post the chapter more than perfect it grammatically. Hope it doesn't annoy ya too much. I also hope I didn't butcher up the medical jargon too bad, although I think it's supposed to be 15 chest compressions instead of 5. And all medical personal will have nick names, most will be based on the phonetic alphabet, or something commonly heard of before. If you don't get it, you will if you read. Also, I forgot to thank you readers and reviewers in my last chapter... I think... so thank you very much! And to anyone reading this chapter, thank you so much!

* * *

_**(Earlier that morning before Cloud passed out, somewhere between the 40th and 48th floor. SOLDIER sleeping quarters.)**_

An alarm clock was beeping on a small night table, the time displayed was five thirty. The bed next to it was currently occupied by a blanket-covered lump. As the small insistent beeping continued, the lump slowly moved. A low grumble sounded and a hand soon snaked its way out from beneath the dark blue covers.

Blindly patting around on the night stand, the hand knocked over a book, a PHS, a wallet, spare change, and a green materia. Unintelligible mumbling slowly filled the room as the hand continued its search. Feeling the plastic contours of the alarm clock, the hand stilled, letting the alarm continue sounding for a few more seconds. Slowly rising into the air, the hand blurred as it slammed down on the annoying buzzer in a closed fist.

Crunching plastic filled the air and the once sleeping person abruptly sat up, hastily pulling the blanket off him. Throwing his arms over his head to stretch his back, the SOLDIER yawned, sighing after hearing his spine give a satisfying pop. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he leaned down, hurriedly picking up the things he knocked over and throwing them carelessly on his bed.

Standing up and yawning some more, the SOLDIER picked up his broken clock, popping out the batteries, before he chucked it to a far corner. The broken clock noisily clattered against the wall before it landed into an awaiting trash bin, joining its predescessor and adding to the pile of broken plastic and circuits.

Sliding his black-out curtains open, Zack beamed a smile at the rising sun. Setting his hands on his hips, he grinned. Today was going to be exciting, he could feel it. Giving a quick nod, Zack headed straight for the shower, walking a few minutes later, shaking his head, and snacthing a towel off his dresser. Drying off, Zack rummaged around in a drawer for clothes.

Less than a minute later, his armor and belts were flying through the air, landing on the messy bed. Sitting at the edge of it he pulled on his boots, opening his PHS to check the time, five forty-five. Pressing a few buttons, he checked if he had any mail. Other than a text message he got from Angeal while he was in the shower, there was nothing else. Reading it, he grinned at his mentor's reminder about the orientation today.

Zack had been told that he would be helping Angeal with the orientation of the new SOLDIER cadets. How could he forget? He had been looking foward meeting the new cadets for the last seven days, and it was finally here! Tying off boot laces and settling his belt across his stomach, Zack put on his weapon harness, securing his pauldrons comfortably on top of his shouders. Snapping his phone open again, he dialed Angeal's number. As the dialing tone rang in his ear, Zack gathered up his things. Running a mental list of everything he needed, he checked off each one as he picked : ID card, key card, key wallet, PHS, and Ice materia (you never knew when a terrorist could attack or fire could start). Yep he had everything on him.

Angeal picked up, "Good morning Zack. Are you ready for today?"

Walking to his front door, Zack picked up his SOLDIER sword, slinging it on his back, "Hey, morning' Angeal! Of course I'm ready! I've been looking foward to this all _week_!" Walking into the hallways, he waved at other SOLDIERs passing through, as he listened to his mentor give out a laugh.

"I'm sure you have," he said chuckling, "And let me guess, you're on your way to the cadets' mess hall right now aren't you?"

Zack stopped and looked around, "Yeah, uh, how'd you know?" Was Angeal watching him? He didn't see him, and there weren't any cameras on this floor as far as he knew... Maybe his teacher was psychic?

_'Spoooky,'_ Zack thought.

"No, but I can hear you walking. Besides, you seemed so excited when I asked you to help us get the cadets ready for training and you love meeting people."

"Am I really that predictable?" Zack asked, relaxing that he wasn't being watched afterall.

"If you were, half of the pranks around here wouldn't have happened," Angeal grinned. The energetic SOLDIER looked around half-heartedly, maybe he _was _being watched,

"What? Why would you suspect little old me? I wasn't around when most of those pranks occured you know."

"Ah, you're right, there was that one prank last month. You were on a mission in Junon. But do you have any idea who would completely cover the hallways on Floor 14 in silly string though?" Angeal asked curiously. Zack covered his PHS so his teacher couldn't hear his laughter.

"I haven't -snicker- a clue," Zack choked out, failing miserably to hide his amusement. He laughed at the memory, he covered the entire floor with it, and nearly every inch of the walls. Most of the floor was now a very pale shade of pink to this day, but that was because no one really wanted to deal with the hastle of replacing it.

That would mean they would have to wait a week as the floor was gutted and redone, and file all the paperwork that went along with that. No one wanted to do that. Enough evil paperwork existed, people didn't want any more to magically appear. And though no one said anything, he had a sneaking suspicion that the secretaries liked the change of color. In Zack's humble opinion, that was a lot of hard-earned gil well-spent.

"Ah, that's what I thought," Angeal started, "Listen puppy, I need to meet up with Genesis and Sephiroth for the orientation. Go have fun meeting the cadets, just don't scare them and remember what you're there for."

"Don't worry Angeal, I got it covered."

"I'll take your word on that Zack. We'll see you at the orientation," Angeal said, refering to himself, Genesis, and Sephiroth.

"See ya then!" Zack said, before hanging up. Looking at the time it was now almost six. Pocketing his phone again, he stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the cadet levels and starting to flirt with the secretaries heading to work.

"Hello, I'm Zack," reaching out to shake a new secretary intern's hand, "How are you fine ladies doing this morning?" Zack asked, causing several to smile or giggle.

_'Oh yeah, today is going to be a great day,'_ Zack thought.

A relatively short elevator ride later, Zack stepped out of the elevator, immediately coming across a scattered group of new cadets. Chuckling at the reactions of the cadets in the hallway, some were even still in their PJs and carrying a towel to the showers. Several gaped at him, two walked into each other, and one actually walked into a wall, before they all snapped to attention, shouting out, "Sir!" Laughing, Zack raised his hands,

"Hey, at ease you guys! I'm not here on official business yet, it's too early for that. So take it easy," as they relaxed a little, he slowly began to walk to the mess hall, shaking a hand or two, introducing himself, "I'm Zackary Fair, SOLDIER Second. Since I won't have you calling me sir, just call me Zack," walking further away, he continued to talk, "I'm going to eat breakfast with you guys today! And don't be afraid to come talk to me or anything. I honestly won't mind, and I don't bite either!"

Waving, he left the cadets in their dazed stupor at meeting a SOLDIER. Zack soon wound his way to the front doors of the cadets' mess hall. Taking a breath, he wondered what they would be serving for breakfast. He thought about making an entrance, by slamming the doors open, but then he remembered what Angeal said.

No scaring the cadets, so no loud noises. And what if there was a cadet standing right behind the door? He didn't want to hurt any of them, not on accident anyway. And the last time he slammed a door open, Kunsel had been guilt-tripping him for _days._ So Zack would take his sweet time entering the room. Slowly, and gently (he did have mako in him afterall), opening the doors and stepping inside, he was surprised.

He had expected to hear a clamor of voices and see nervous but excited cadets. He even expected a possible food fight (not that he ever caused one or more, of course). Instead, it was silent. Now Zack quickly learned to expect a lot of things, but this was not one of them, or rather, several of them. He did not expect the room to be silent. He did expect the few cadets in the mess hall completely focused on a small group in the back. And he most certainly did not expect a pair of blue eyes to be looking straight into his.

Zack stared, not only was the fact that someone looking at him a surprise, but he could have sworn he was looking at a familiar sky, like the one just outside of the city here. Shaking off the odd feeling of deja-vu and looking at the six cadets at the far end of the room, he realized the blue-eyed blond wasn't part of the group... he was being _surrounded_ by the goup. Zack recognized this familiar formation from his cadet days, he didn't need to take his eyes off of blue irises to see it.

It was a confrontation and soon to be fight, five-against-one at that. Hearing a loud snapping sound, he could see the cadet's hands shaking in closed fists, his face becoming paler. He must have snapped something plastic in his hands by the sound of it. And by the paling of his face, it was digging into his palms, but he didn't make a sound, even though his knuckles were turning white. One of the other bullies stepped closer alongside another one who Zack presumed to be the leader of ther group. Focusing his attention on the starting conversation, he heard the cadet talking,

"What's the matter, you scared? You know what Trent, I think it's time to give Strife his first lesson here."

Zack frowned slightly, this was definitely heading straight for a fight, and it would start any moment now. Even as the ring leader of the group cracked his knuckles, Zack stayed still, he couldn't interefere just yet.

It was a rule he learned after becoming a SOLDIER, any fights amongst the cadets were not to be interfered with or interrupted unless necessary. Seeing as the fight was yet to begin, Zack couldn't do anything but stare back at the only cadet in the room that noticed his presence. Hopefully his presence didn't distract the blond from the fight about to occur.

"Yeah, I think you're right Carl. Let's teach _Cloud_, that _weaklings_ like him shouldn't be here in SOLDIER," Trent said, sending a fist straight at those blue eyes.

Zack had to restrain himself from moving. He hated letting innocent people getting hurt, and hated the people who hurt those people even more. Especially when the odds were so stacked against the cadet, who was shorter and smaller than all of them.

But he was more surprised when the cadet didn't break off their improv staring contest. And even more so when he realized that the blond, or 'Cloud Strife' as the bullies called him, had actually side-stepped the punch. And by the still shocked look on his face, Zack guessed that the Cloud didn't even realize he was in a fight, he didn't flinch from the attack.

Zack kept himself rooted to the spot, forcing himself not to help just yet, even when Carl and another cadet pinned Cloud down on the table behind him. The small blond still looked shell-shock as he stared back at the SOLDIER, but then something seemed to click in the boys eyes.

A small blink and frantic glance around him, Cloud just seemed to suddenly change. Once sky blue eyes narrowed and grew stormy. He struggled slightly under the cadet's grips, and when the bully, Trent, walked up to punch him, something must have finally cracked in Cloud's mind. Because after that, it was like a dam broke and everything spun out of control.

Trent raised a fist, but he never landed a hit before stumbling back and crashing on the floor. Zack's eyes widened, as the blond slipped free and sent one cadet down with a kick to the throat. The other one was hurriedly standing up when Trent ordered the other two to grab the bully who had him pinned down earlier tried to grab him again, but Cloud dodged by jumping on the back of one of the other two bullies rushing at him.

The one Cloud stepped on was bigger than him, but the smallest of the group, so he soon crashed onto the floor. The bully that was still standing didn't have a chance to turn around before he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt, tripped, and thrown _over _the blond's shoulder and slammed into his downed companion.

Zack was surprised again, when Cloud tried to run _to him_, but the cadet didn't say anything, not a call for help or even a shout of surprise when Trent got back on his feet again to clothesline him. Zack watched in stunned disbelief as the cadet effectively used the arm to stop himself by letting his feet slide foward before dropping to the ground and kicking Trent's knees. By the way the cadet crumpled to the ground in pain, Zack had the impression that this 'Strife' person knew to hit where it counted the most.

The blond nearly ran again, but the cadet that had pinned him down earlier was still unscathe and tackled the short cadet, completely oblivious to Zack's presence. Zack watched the leader crawl and begin to strangle the pinned blond in a choke hold. Zack impatiently waited a few seconds, if the blond couldn't get out in the next few seconds, he'd interfere. After fifteen seconds, Zack was already calling Angeal, shouting at the cadets to stop.

The cadet who was holding the blond's legs down immediately let go, and was promptly kicked in the face twice. Falling back onto the floor and shouting in pain. Trent however, still didn't let go, he just increased the pressure on the other's neck. Zack was nearly panicking when he heard the bully whispering a death threat into his captive's ear.

_'That idiot, he doesn't even know I heard every word he said,' _Zack thought as he shouted again,

"Cadet! I'm _ordering _you to let him go, _now_!"

The bully refused to comply as he continued to choke the blond, but it didn't matter though, because Cloud instantly struck back. Moving into a run, Zack heard his mentor finally pick up.

"Hello Zack-" Angeal started, but Zack franticlly cut him off.

"ANGEAL! Help! Bring a medical team here ASAP! You have to hurry! One of them is being choked!"

"Zack, what's going on?" Angeal asked urgently. Zack lightly pushed several cadets out of the way, feeling slightly relieved as well as surprised when the cadet got out of the choke hold. Not feeling a speck of sympathy for the bully who was stabbed. He look at the spork sticking out of the cadet's arm with morbid interest, but he was more concerned about the cadet who just fell to his knees. Fully running, Zack quickly replied,

"I'm at the mess hall, one of the cadets is still being choked for at least twenty seconds now. He just broke free but the punk seemed damn intent on killing him! Five others are bleeding and temporarily incapacitated, but I need medical to get here."

Zack kneeled in front of the blonde cadet, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him slightly, not liking the glazed look in his eyes. He held the PHS away from himself as he gave another shake, trying to get the cadet to keep his eyes open,

"Hey, can you hear me? Listen, don't pass out on me here, you need to stay awake, a medical team will arrive soon." Listening to the cadet's breathing, Zack's eyes widened when he heard nothing.

"Zack, medics are on their way, they'll be down there in five minutes," Angeal said.

Putting his PHS next to his ear again, Zack shouted, "You got to move faster than that Angeal! He had his wind pipe partially crushed! He's not _breathing_! He could be dying right now!"

Zack could hear Angeal cursing, and he cursed himself when he caught a now unconcious blonde.

"Zack, can you move him?" Angeal asked.

The cadet didn't have a broken neck, and the only other wounds were superficial, so Zack gave the immediate answer, "Yeah, why?"

"Medics won't get to him in time, you need to bring him to them. Take the stairs on the west side."

"What about the others?" Zack asked, sending a concerned glance at the others, despite what they did earlier, but already starting to pick up the unconcious blond. The cadet that the blond kicked in the throat was still coughing, but he was at least breathing.

"Don't worry, I'm on my way right now, you just get that cadet to the medics!" Angeal ordered. Turning his focus back on getting the cadet some help, Zack calculated how much time it would take him to get up to the medical floor, but first he needed to get off the phone.

"Sir-yes-sir! Enroute now! ETA forty -five seconds!" Zack blurted.

Nearly breaking his phone shut and tearing his clothing as he pocketed the device, he couldn't have cared less about it. Slipping his now-free arm under the cadet's knees, Zack stood up, lifting the young teen up bridal style. Taking great care that the young blond's neck would scarcely move, he shouted at the group by the front entrance, "Open the door!" One of the cadets opened the door, and Zack was out in seconds, easily dodging surprised cadets, politely shouting for them to clear out of the way.

"OUT OF THE WAY! COMING THROUGH! STEP ASIDE!"

A few hallways and hastily turned corners later, he picked up the pace when the corridors became empty. Turning around another corner, Zack reluctantly slowed his pace to stop in front of the western stair-well door. Kneeling on the ground, he slid his key card through the electronic lock, thanking his lucky stars that he remebered to bring it.

Nearly kicking the unlocked stair well door off its hinges, Zack dashed up the steps, skipping entire flights of stairs from time to time. Keeping the cadet in his arms as still as possible, he heard someone else running down the stair well before briefly passing by his mentor.

"Medics are waiting at the door!" Angeal said in passing.

"Got it!" Zack shouted back as he ran and jumped over more flights of stairs, every second seeming far too long.

Reaching the medical floor after running up twenty levels, Zack slowed to a stop in front of the open stair well door, panting slightly from the effort. And true to Angeal's word, a medical team was on stand-by. Laying the cadet on the gurney, Zack began to push the stretcher. The medics were surprised but soon ran alongside the stretcher. There was no point in complaining, they needed the cadet in the ER, it didn't matter who got him there.

One was quickly checking vitals, the other looking for other injuries, only finding a few small gashes. The third one ran alongside Zack, directing which way to go. Reaching a large empty emergency room, Zack stepped back and let the medics do their work. The first medic hooked the cadet up to a heart monitor, checking the readings. Hearing the machine beep, Zack sighed in relief, having caught his breath from running nearly forty flights of stairs. The cadet's heart was still beating. That was good, right? He would be alright then once they get him breathing.

"Pulse is a little slow, but still going strong," the first medic said, he turned to look at the second medic, "Echo, is he still responding?"

Flashing a light in the teenager's eyes, she nodded, "Yeah, he is, but we need to get air in his lungs. Hey Delta, do you have that laryngoscope yet?"

The third medic, Delta, stood above the blond's head, holding a tube and metal instrument. Opening the unconcious cadet's mouth as he replied,

"Already got it." Delta slid the tube in before stopping, "Dang, his larynx practically collapsed, I can't get it through. Alpha, we need to cut him open."

"Alright," he said, grabbing several utensils, and spreading a blue sheet material over the cadet's neck, a hole cut-out exposing the throat. Delta grabbed a cotton ball and iodine, cleaning the exposed area of the cadet's neck. Alpha lifted a scalpel and began to deftly make a vertical incision along the blond's throat. Echo was gathering some more equipment but said to the SOLDIER Third,

"Zack, wait outside, please."

At first he was tempted to protest, but Zack knew he would only get in the way so he kept silent and nodded, stepping out of the emergency room and into the waiting room. He could trust Rose, or 'Echo' as she was called by other medical personal. She was one of the best in the ER room, both at ShinRa Headquarters and out on the field, and Delta and Alpha were just as good. Sitting down in a chair, Zack forced himself to sit. The cadet would be fine, he just needed to wait. Even if he couldn't see what was going on, he could still hear them. Although, in moments he nearly wish he couldn't as he stood up from his chair, franticly pacing in concern.

As soon as Zack left the room, Delta had inserted the tracheal tube, and ready to help the poor kid breathe when the heart monitor began to rapidly beep. Resisting the urge to look up, Delta focused on getting air to the kid's lungs. Alpha said calmly but quickly, "Vital signs are dropping, and pulse is starting to slow. Echo get the defibrillator, we can't let him flat line."

Rushing to a cart near by, she readied the machine, charging the paddles, and opening a tube of a gel-like substance to prevent burning and help the charge go through. Delta attatched a balloon like object to the tube, squeezing it in slow steady rhythms. The cadet was getting air to his lungs again, but the heart monitor continued to beep it's frantic warning.

Alpha called to Echo, "Where are those paddles?"

"They'll be hot in a second, get the kid ready," Echo said squirting the gel on the paddles, rubbing them together to spread it out. The two charged metal plates crackling as they came in contact with each other, the machine whined as it charged. Alpha ripped open the blond's uniform, several buttons popping off, using medical shears to cut open the cadets shirt. The machine stopped whining, a loud beep and click indicating it was charged.

"Clear!" Echo shouted, nearly slamming the charged paddles on the cadet's chest. Delta continued pumping air into the kid's lungs, but made sure there was no direct contact between him and the kid. Alpha lifted his hands up and backed pressed the trigger button. Cloud barely moved as the electricity worked it's way through his heart, temporarily de-polarizing it, in hopes to basically 'reset' it. The heart monitor stopped its alarm as the pulse reader gave out a strong solid beat from the shock, only to return again as the pulse continued to drop.

"Pulse is still dropping! Hit him again!" Alpha shouted, moving to another cart and grabbing a large needle and bottle of clear liquid. Echo shouted another, 'Clear!', shocking the cadet again, but it didn't help.

"He's crashing!" Delta shouted, "Alpha, we need to use the atropine!"

"I'm working on it!" Alpha called back.

The heart monitor gave one continuous beep, the screen showing one long flat line. There was no pulse.

"Starting chest compressions," Echo said, pushing the defibrillator aside and pressing her hands over the blond's heart, forcing it to continue pumping. One, two, three, four, five. Echo paused, allowing Delta to fill the cadet's lungs twice before continuing. They repeated the process as Alpha filled a needle with atropine.

Standing next to the cadet, Alpha signalled the others to stop. Holding the cadet in place and mentally marking the spot to hit, he slammed the needle into the bare chest, hitting the heart. Pushing the plunger, Alpha flooded the heart with the chemical. Pulling it out, the three looked nervously between the cadet and the heart monitor.

"Come on, come on..." Delta whispered. A few seconds passed, but still the eerie sound of no pulse continued.

"Damn it kid, give us a heart beat!" Alpha shouted slamming his hands down on the gurney's railings, but the boy's pulse still didn't change. Echo was close to tears when the doors slammed open. Zack ran in, "What's going on!" Echo tried to stop him but the SOLDIER simply stepped around her, "Isn't there anything else you can do?" he asked desperately. This wasn't how things were supposed to be, today wasn't supposed to be tragic!

Delta shook his head, as Alpha grabbed another needle and liquid, "If this doesn't work, there's not much else we _can _do, Zack."

It was true. Curaga couldn't help. The materia could heal wounds, but that didn't mean it could stop someone who was just, well, _dying._ It couldn't help someone dying from a form of heart failure. Even Phoenix Down wouldn't work.

Although, it was stronger than Curaga in healing powers, it still had similar limitations. It could revive someone, even from death, but in very specific conditions, and most often it was only effective when used in battle, not a emergency room. It had something to do about being closer to the Lifestream, but even then, the reasons as to why that was were still unclear.

Ten seconds had slowly passed since the atropine shot. Nothing changed, but Delta continued to pump air into the cadet anyways, although he was beginning to lose hope more and more. Alpha finished filling a second needle with a different clear liquid. Moving back to the cadet, he readied himself to stab the cadet again, hoping and praying it would work.

"What's that?" Zack quietly asked, standing by the laying cadet, head bowed.

Echo put a hand on his shoulder, as she explained just as quietly, "Epinephrine, it should help with the atropine we gave him earlier. It should get his heart beating again," holding back from letting her eyes water up. She had her fair share of medical emergencies and was proffessional about it, but she couldn't keep her cool demeanor when it happened to a teenager.

"If this works," Delta said slowly as they counted the seconds, "he'll be fine. It's a long-shot, but..." he trailed off. Alpha finished his sentence for him,

"It's still worth a shot." Counting thirty seconds since the first shot, Alpha raised his hand in the air and slammed it down again, injecting the cadet's heart with epinephrine. Pulling the needle out and setting it aside, the four waited anxiously. The next three seconds chillingly silent.

Zack's hands gripped the railing in anticipation, lightly denting the metal, "Don't give up Cloud," he whispered, growing more worried, but keeping his hopes up, "You can pull through this. I know you can."

Zack ran a hand through his hair, tears already in his eyes. Sure he was a SOLDIER, but he would damn well cry if he wanted to. Just looking at the motionless cadet made him want to just sob. He didn't even know the teen, but he felt like he was losing a best friend here! Hell he could have _been _a new friend!

_'No,' _Zack thought,_ 'He still _can _be my friend, he'll get through this.' _He couldn't lose hope now, but he could feel himself losing more and more when silence continued to greet them, only disturbed by the constant sound of the flat lined pulse. Zack felt more moisture in his eyes, his vision blurring. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. That's when a small noise surprised them all.

Beep.

Zack looked up at the heart monitor along with the three medics. Did they just hear a pulse? Seconds passed by again, feeling as though it was an eternity. Then it came again.

Beep...

And again after that.

Beep...

Beep...

Beep...

Delta smiled, reading the numbers, "Fifteen over sixty and steadily rising..."

"Oh thank Gaia," Echo whispered.

"He's going to be okay now, right?" Zack asked, relief already making it's way on his face.

Alpha looked at the screen before nodding, "Yeah, he'll be fine Zack. His heart's still beating slow, but it's starting to get back its rhythm."

Zack rested his forehead against the railing in relief, "Oh thank goodness, I thought... Man that was just too close for comfort..."

"Yeah, kid must be one tough sonnuva gun... and fuckin' lucky," Alpha said.

Delta nodded, "Yeah Zack, if you weren't there to help this kid out... man, he wouldn't be here right now..."

"I'm just glad he's fine... Wait a second, what was his name again?" Echo asked.

Zack just shook his head, "I don't know, but some of the cadets had called him 'Cloud'-something."

"Wait, Cloud? You mean Cloud Strife?" Echo asked surprised.

"What, do you know him Rose?" Zack asked, Delta and Alpha looking up in interest. Rose shrugged, "I heard his name mentioned a few times before, I don't think this is his first trip to the infirmary."

Zack frowned as Delta asked, "Wait, what makes you say that?"

"I heard Doc say his name one time before," Rose said, "All I heard was that he had to get patched up several times back in boot camp, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"Bully troubles?" Alpha asked aloud. Echo shrugged, but Zack answered.

"Yeah, but I rather not get into details, I think some higher-ups are gonna be interested about this," Zack said.

"That bad?" Delta rhetoricly asked, shaking his head. The medical staff were used to a need-to-know basis, but that meant either classified missions, or potential court cases. They knew plenty of secrets themselves, but that didn't mean they would go ask for trouble. So they left the matter at that, each of them calming down from the adrenaline rush and worry.

The crisis now averted, Zack was still rather teary-eyed when he stood back to let Delta and Rose get Cloud comfortable. Delta was still helping Cloud breathe a little, but soon hooked him up to a respirator to automatically monitor his breathing and pump air when necessary. Alpha was gathering the needles and trash to dispose them in the biohazard. The now steady beep of Cloud's heart was the prominent sound in the room, calming Zack some as he quietly zoned out, watching the cadet absent mindedly.

The doors slammed open and the four of them jumped slightly, looking over at the new arrivals. The medics were surprised because the sudden arrivals, and Zack was surprised because he had been so lost in thought, he passed off the sound of footsteps as simply 'friendly' since he heard Angeal talking among the footsteps.

Several medics came running in, rushing five more cadets inside, each one hand-cuffed to the railings of their gurneys. One was still coughing, another groaning in pain, two were lying unconcious, and the last one was crying and cursing in pain. Someone shouted for help and Echo and Alpha immediately ran over to one of the groups. Delta stayed back to make sure Cloud was set up and would be fine on his own, before looking at the SOLDIER Second, "You gonna stick around and keep an eye on this guy?"

"For a bit," Zack nodded, turning his gaze back on Cloud.

"Alright, just call for one of us if something happens to him. And don't touch the buttons," he joked, scampering off after getting a small smile.

Zack breathed a sigh, running a hand through his hair and still feeling jittery from the cadet's brief flat-lining. Zack knew he had a big heart, and that he always worried about others, but this just felt more intense, the feeling of relief nearly overwhelming. The emotional rollercoaster Zack had gone through in the last few nerve-wracking minutes was getting to the point of being ridiculous.

Why did he feel so much concern for a stranger? He didn't even know the blond other than a possible name, Cloud Strife. Before he could think about it more, the Chief Medical Officer "Doc" and Commander Hewley walked in.

Or rather Angeal walked in, he was perfectly calm, albeit concerned about the cadets, but he would find out soon enough when Zack told him. Upon seeing his student's distraught face, Angeal wanted to find out what happened all the quicker, but the Cheif Medical Officer, however, reached his student first. The man had stormed over to Zack in outrage and shouted at the younger SOLDIER,

"Zackary Fair! I want to know what in Gaia's name happened! Why are there _five _cadets in my med-bay _this_ injured? Training hasn't even started! Why couldn't you- better yet- why _didn't _you_-_ step in _sooner_? And just why, oh why, is a cadet's arm _stabbed _with a _**spork**__?"_


	6. Super Glue

Posted: 8/5/10

Disclaimer: FF7 does not belong to me. No duh.

The idea of Cloud running around in the condition he's is probably less than ideal in the realistic sense, but all I ask is a small suspension of disbelief in that regard. And also, I recommend that you do NOT run around with a tracheal tube in your throat under normal (and real) circumstances. You'll probably hate me at the end of the chapter, but don't worry too much. I am going to continue this story, but you might have to be patient when it takes me longer to update. And please review! They're highly motivating and greatly appreciated! Thank you all so much! And sorry if I some how messed up in any way, but I really wanted to share this with you all for a few days. And I really couldn't think of anything better for the chapter title.

Revised: 1/12/11

* * *

Cloud never woke up in an infirmary before. Throughout his life, he never needed to stay at one other than for a quick physical, occassional cough, or patch-up from another scuffle with bullies. That was all from before the Nibelheim Incident. After that though, there was no such luxury as to having his wounds treated for in a hospital and recovering on bed rest.

Cloud had neither the time nor the need. He had little spare time because he was too busy hunting for Sephiroth and saving the world, and with the presence of mako, Cloud had no need to be treated for what he was impervious to, such as illnesses. With accelerated healing of wounds, he didn't need to patch up most of them. As for the bed rest, well, Cloud was an insomniac.

The only times he actually _needed _help was when he was close to _dying_. Every time that happened though, Cloud always received it in the most unconventional ways, whether he liked it or not. Like when he was first stabbed in the chest, he healed, more or less, during a five-year soak in a tank of mako. Or, again, during his battle with Kadaj, his Geostigma was healed by the Lifestream-influenced water.

And then healed again by the same water after being stabbed... in the chest... for the second time...

Followed by being shot several times... to the chest...

And the materia explosion after that...

And most likely a several hundred foot fall after that...

When he thought about it, the more certain he was that he fell. His friends didn't carry him to the Church, as he had later found out, so how else did he get there? It would probably be easier for a spirit to _push _him than _carry _him to the water... He blamed Zack. It sounded like something he would do and Aerith was just too nice.

Besides, if those kids weren't there to hold him up, he would have drowned. But the little girl said that 'she' told them to wait there, which meant Aerith had made sure that he didn't drown from Zack 'pushing him into the pool', as it were. He was willing to bet that Zack had fun pushing him off a building, too.

Regardless of his near-death experiences and his musings on his previous one, Cloud was beginning to wake up again. His mind was still slow and groggy, but already working on finding out where he was. He felt a mattress under him. It was unfamiliar so he wasn't at Seventh Heaven or any place familiar, but he could smell sanitary cleaning chemicals.

His first thought was that damn lab, and his heart sped up a little, but than he remembered that he was lying on a mattress, so it couldn't be a lab. He would be on a metal table otherwise. If he wasn't at a lab, than he couldn't be in any place worse really. He was most likely in a hospital or infirmary of some sort. Hopefully. If not, well, he worried about that when he woke up.

He could hear the voices become clearer, words starting to form. He couldn't catch most of what they were saying though because of a beeping noise, but he did hear his name once. That, unfortunately, was almost _never_ a good sign from his experience, especially when he was some place unfamiliar. He needed to get out of here.

Cloud gently tensed his limbs to see if he could move them. Feeling his fingers and toes, he felt relieved, he could move, and judging by the lack of stiff muscles, he hadn't been out for long. He was probably knocked out for an hour at most. That was good. He also couldn't feel any restraints, which meant he would be able to move freely and quickly, and with luck, he'd be able to escape unnoticed.

He was still waking up, but he could hear several people in the room. They didn't sound like they were standing close to him, so he slowly peeked one eye open to a narrow slit. The lights were bright at first, but once he adjusted, he could see pretty well. He was in luck. There were several closed curtains where he could hear the voices coming form, but no one was in the room. He saw no cameras either and could see the exit. But before he got ready to leave, he was curious as to why he was there in the first place, but he soon remembered.

Now, Cloud hadn't been too coherent, as in he couldn't remember the last few hours, but the events soon returned to him and the memory of seeing Zack again jolted his mind awake. Cloud forgot to breathe. He literally stopped using his diaphram and failed to bring air into his body. Until he realized that he was _still_ breathing. His attention immediately shifted to himself, concerned for his immediate health.

Feeling something in his throat, Cloud slightly gagged. Placing a hand to his throat, he felt a plastic tube coming from a cut right down the center. Cloud felt his stomach churn as he remained calm. He wasn't going to panic, not one bit. He would stay absolutely calm, and not draw anyone's attention as he quickly took stock of himself.

He had a few patches on his chest connected to a machine. Glancing at is, it was a heart monitor. Okay, no bid deal, which brought his attention to the tube in his throat. His cut open throat. Now please bare in mind that Cloud didn't know about tracheal tubes or the fact that it was actually helping bring air to his lungs since his larynx was partially crushed. If he had, he would have stayed calm and relatively still. However, since he never actually _been _in a hospital, he had _no _idea that this was actually a commonly-used and _acceptable_ practice, and did the one thing anyone in his situation would have done. He began to panic.

But since Cloud is who he is, he didn't have a full-blown panic attack right away. Cloud still had a hand over his throat and his anxiety and discomfort only grew from the reminder of being 'hooked up' to something like he had at the lab, nothing but discomfort and pain. The beeping grew a little faster, and he realized that he was also been hooked up to a heart monitor. Cloud forced himself to remain calm, the beeping slowing down. His heart was slowing down, but his body was rising in fear.

Cloud slowly got up, closing the curtains so no one would immediately see him. Carefully following the tubing that was taped in place to his throat, he quietly stepped on to the floor. Next to the heart monitor, he found a machine that the tube was attatched to. Cloud stared at it uncomprehendingly for a moment. What the hell was that?

Now remember, Cloud didn't know much about tracheal tubes, but he was a pretty good puzzle solver. Or as Yuffie- and later Tifa- affectionaly called him, a 'smart cookie'. Speaking of cookies, maybe he'll pick up some cookies to go with his ice cream when he got the chance. He hadn't had a cookie for, well, he couldn't remember for how long...

Cloud sighed.

He must have been choked longer than he thought.

Looking at the machine and taking into the fact that he had been choked, Cloud came to the conclusion that it was pumping air into his lungs. To test this, he pinched the tube, stopping whatever was being pumped into him. As he expected, the air stopped. He grabbed the tube, ready to pull it out of his throat, but paused to think for a few seconds more.

He had been choked before passing out, and he hadn't been breathing as far as he could recall. If he hadn't been breathing when he got here, Cloud assumed that's why he had a tube in his throat. Though that brought him to his second question, why did the medics have to have his throat slit open? A few moments of thinking and Cloud quickly came up with an explanation.

He had seen air masks before, so he assumed that this air tube was a more effective variant of that. If he hadn't been breathing on his own, then the air mask couldn't be used and the air tube would have to be put down his throat so he wouldn't die.

Now, Cloud assumed that medics didn't cut people's throats open without a good reason, and not breathing seemed to validate that, but wouldn't it be easier (and less risky) to have it go down his mouth? Thinking back to the tail end of the fight, he had been choked to the point where blood wasn't even getting to his brain, let alone air, so maybe something happened to his windpipe, or, what was the word? Oh yeah, larynx.

Reviewing the facts, Cloud nodded, that seemed to make sense. If his larynx was squeezed to the point of being crushed, even if just partially, that would make it impossible for the tube to go down through his mouth. Hence the reason why he had a small cut. That mystery solved, Cloud tried to detatch himself from the machine.

Feeling the tube at his neck, he found some sort of latch-system, that meant the tube was in two parts. One in his throat, and the second one attatched to the machine. That was good, he could get off of the machine without taking the tube out. A few small tugs and twists later, Cloud unattatched the machine tube from him, while leaving the air tube in his throat.

As uncomfortable as it was, he didn't want to risk taking out the only thing keeping his airway open, and finding out if he could breathe with a collapsed larynx. Breathing through a tube was a bit odd, and swallowing was extrememly uncomfortable, but at least he wasn't choking on his own spit and still had air in his lungs.

Unplugging the heart monitor from the wall so it wouldn't make any unwanted noise, Cloud pulled off the patches on his chest, noticing a sunburn feeling on his chest. He shrugged the small annoying pain away. It was probably from a punch he didn't notice or something similar.

Besides, he was more curious why his uniform was missing several buttons and his shirt had been cut open. If he wanted to get out of here, he needed to look like he wasn't supposed to be in a hospital. Having a tube sticking out of his neck with clothes that were ripped and cut open wasn't the best thing to wear for blending in as another cadet. He needed to fix his outfit.

Looking at a rolling cabinent, he found the missing buttons to his uniform sitting in a pile on top. They must have been picked up so no one would slip on them, which was good for him since he needed them back at the moment. Silently rummaging through the drawers, he looked for a stitching kit.

If this was a infirmary, hospital, whatever, they would have needles and thread for stitching wounds closed. Founding what he needed, Cloud shrugged off his uniform and shirt. As he sewed the buttons back on, Cloud kept an ear open for anyone approaching. Quietly working with nimble fingers, he asked himself one important question.

Should he leave the infirmary?

He didn't want to gain any attention and leaving would get a someone's attention, but he didn't want to stay here either. Well, there was only one thing to do: Have an argument with himself.

If he stayed, he wouldn't gain any more attention to himself. He could find out what was going on, and what his punishment would be, afterall, he was in a fight. And he would most likely be questioned by the officer who had stopped the fight. In other words, he would be questioned by Zack. That was a good reason to stay. Logically, it made sense, but Cloud still had his doubts about staying.

On the other hand, if he left, he would be out of here and not near anyone with a needle. Even if he would get someone's attention, he would just say he was afraid of doctors when someone asked. That should be reason enough. Not that he feared doctors of course, he just didn't immediately trust them. Then there was also the fact that he would postpone his questioning with Zack, which would be good.

As much as he wanted to see his friend again, there was one potential problem. Zack knew the Commanders and, more problematicly, the General, even if only through association. As much as he wanted to meet Zack already, and he _was _going to meet him eventually, Cloud wanted to postpone that meeting a little while longer.

That, and, he didn't know how long he would have to wait here before leaving. He already laid in bed for several hours straight, bored out of his mind. He didn't want to go through that again within the same morning thank you very much. Then there was the fact that leaving _felt_ like it would be a _very_ good idea.

After a quick debate, and losing to himself, Cloud decided that he wasn't going to stay. Ignoring that he just lost an argument with himself to himself, he got ready to leave. Frowning at the two missing buttons, and slightly hasty stitching, Cloud put on his uniform again. He couldn't be picky.

Folding his shirt so the sleeves and jaggedly-cut edges was hidden, he managed to make it look like a scarf. Wrapping it around his throat, the tube was concealed in a way so that it was out of sight, but allowed him to breathe. It might look a little out of place wearing a scarf, but the calendar had said it was Janurary, which meant winter. So he wouldn't be the only one wearing a scarf or other kind of winter clothing.

Making sure the scarf wouldn't move out of place, Cloud peeked out of the curtain. Listening to the people in the room, and noting other closed curtains opposite to where he was, he discerned that there were only the medics and the five bullies in the room. Quietly walking to the front door, Cloud glanced out the window. There was an empty waiting room, and a service desk further down. From what he could hear, it sounded like someone was yelling.

Perfect, no one was there to see him, and anyone who was here would be more interested in someone yelling than someone casually walking. Stepping from the emergency room, Cloud walked straight pass the service desk. Keeping his pace calm and even, Cloud acted perfectly natural, and from his lack of hurried movement, he was ignored. Walking by a hall, the yelling became louder. Sending a quick glance down the corridor, he nearly tripped over his feet at the sight.

Three people stood half way down the hall. A SOLDIER First, a SOLDIER Second and a medical officer of some kind. The tallest and biggest of the three was the First, who had his back to Cloud, and on his back was the Buster Sword. Fighting the urge to stare, Cloud looked at the last two.

The Second was Zack, but he didn't have the Buster Sword. And if he didn't have the sword, then that would mean that the SOLDIER First next to Zack was Angeal Hewley. _Commander_ Hewley Shit. He needed to move. And Cloud did just that, hearing the medical officer yell at his Zack,

"If you saw him being _strangled_, you immediately step in! You don't just _wait _for him to get out on his own and-"

Cloud didn't hear what he said because Zack had glanced down the hall. He nearly froze when violet eyes looked at his own blue eyes before turning back to the yelling medic. Cloud didn't waste time walking away, and he nearly tripped again when he saw Zack do a double-take from his perephial vision and make a small noise of surprise.

Quickening his pace to a jog, Cloud turned into another hall way with a few people, heading toward the nearest stair and elevator. Walking by a small group of doctors discussing a diagnosis, Cloud allowed one of them to lightly brush by him, relieving a woman of her key card. Only a few seconds had passed since Zack saw him, when he heard,

"Wait, wasn't that Cloud?..."

Cloud didn't turn around to look, but when he turned another corner, he saw Zack looking around. And just before he disappeared around the corner, violet eyes turned to him once more, and widened in surprise.

"CLOUD!"

Cloud nearly cursed, but couldn't because of the air tube. Turning his jog into a run, he nearly rejoiced when the hallways looked familiar. After the Reunioin, Cloud had a habit of wandering around the empty shell of the ShinRa building complex. Most of it was barren, but sometimes he would find a few hidden items.

Of course, the one time he had found a materia, Yuffie had somehow found out. Which was strange because he told no one... and she was all the way in Wutai. Nonetheless, he had been wrangled in to help her scour the entire building for more of it. And she managed to get all their friends to help at one point or another. He still didn't know how she managed to get several of the TURKs to come along that one time. He was surprised to see Tseng and Rude, but Reno mentioned something about... a pie?

Squeezing into an empty conference room, Cloud focused on remembering every shortcut and escape route off the floor. It was unsettling when comparing the in-tact building with its skeletal shell after Meteor, but he managed to figure out what part of the building he was in. Now all he needed to do was to escape from Zack, but that would prove to be a challenge. Cloud didn't have mako anymore, unlike his pursuer, Zack, did.

Fortunately, when it came to losing someone who was following you, it wasn't about speed. It was all about maneuverbilitly, and placing your pursuer into a position so that they _couldn't _follow you, which Cloud planned to do.

Slipping out of the room through a side door, Cloud heard Zack burst in the room shouting his name and for him to stop. Cloud didn't, instead, he ran faster, slipping through offices and leaving a confusing trail of equally confused people. Five minutes later, half the floor was in a ruckus.

Ducking into a small office supply closet at the dead end of an empty hall way, Cloud was gasping. He could barely breathe through the tube, but he managed to run far ahead enough to hide without anyone seeing him. Looking around the room, he listened for anyone heading his way. He could hear a lot of commotion, though the noise was a ways off. Cloud finally caught his breath enough to move again, though his face was still warm from the exertion.

He heard someone begin searching rooms at the beginning of the hall. He needed to move, but he couldn't leave the supply closet now that someone was in the hallway. Not that it mattered because Cloud had other plans. Searching a drawer, he grabbed a large envelope and stuffed it with a thick stack of papers. Grabbing a clipboard flash light, he searched around for anything he could use, but he needed to get going, the person searching the hallway was getting closer to his location.

Climbing a shelf, Cloud made his way to the ceiling grabbing more office supplies along the way. Stashing a handful of paperclips and a few other items, Cloud was finally at the top. The ceiling in here was the same as the one in the hallway, office ceiling tiles. Popping one up, Cloud clambered in. Pulling out the flash light, Cloud began to move away from the office supply closet.

Most people believed that you could travel around an entire building through air vents. That wasn't exactly true. You could move through the main ventalation shafts, they were big enough to crawl around in, but you couldn't get from room to room because most of the individual vents in a room were too small. Another thing that most people didn't know, including ShinRa, was that building security was to prevent people from getting on a floor, and if need be, stop people from getting off a floor.

However, it wasn't designed for stopping a person _within_ the floor. Cloud took full advantage of this by crawling inside the ceiling-floor space and navigating his way to the other side of the building towards the eastern stair well. Cloud had to rest several times, but busied himself with listening for his pursuers, and making sure he didn't choke on dust.

Dropping into a janitor closet on the other side, Cloud didn't hear any search parties nearby, but that wouldn't last for long. Searching the cramped space, he grabbed a small non-descript black tool bag that no one would miss. Stuffing the office supplies into an outer pocket on the side of his new tool bag, Cloud planned his next move.

If he wanted to get off the floor and lose his pursuers, he needed a few more things. Searching the shelves and tool boxes, Cloud stashed several tubes of super glue, duct tape, and several more items.

The elevators on this floor were sure to be watched by this point, so that was completely out of the question, so instead he casually walked to the stair well door, sliding the borrowed key card through the electronic lock. Glancing at the name, he mentally thanked (and apologized to) a 'Rose Alder'.

Stepping into the stair well, Cloud pulled out a door stopper from his bag, wedging as much as he could under the door. Hopefully that would at least slow down any pursuers who decide to try the stairs. He began his long descent down and upon seeing the number forty-five on the wall, Cloud resisted the strong urge to go faster so he could catch his short breath.

_'Ah man...,' _Cloud thought, _'I'm on floor forty-five! There's nothing but Turks and SOLDIERs between floors forty and fifty! Oh man...'_

The drawbacks of his decision and the feeling of being chased by SOLDIERs was raising Cloud's panic and bringing back his paranoia.

What was he supposed to do now? He was out of the hospital area and off the floor, but now he had Zack looking for him _and_ his mentor Commander Hewley. Within a few minutes they'll have the floor completely locked down, and once the floor was cleared, which wouldn't be long now, they would widen the search! And before he knows it, the entire building will be involved! Zack would probably have all of his SOLDIER friends looking for him! And because Zack was friends with everybody, the Turks would get involved! And chasing people down was part of their _job_!

Cloud was on the fortieth floor when he heard someone trying to shove open a door above him.

_'Shit! They already know I'm in here? How!'_

As if to answer his question, a bead of sweat landed in his eye. Wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve, he felt like an idiot. Mako didn't increase just strength and agility, it also sharpened the senses exponentially. Cloud nearly groaned, how could he forget! The exertion of running wasn't that difficult for Cloud, but the tube didn't bring in as much air as usual, which was causing him to heat up more. The confusion he caused earlier might stall whoever was chasing him, but with a clean enviroment and himself sweating, even lightly, they would have a clear path at him with their sense of smell. He was being tracked down! As he heard a door bang open several floors above him, Cloud nearly slammed the key card into an electronic lock and ran inside.

There was a person pulling the jacket part of a business suit over their head at the end of the hall, but Cloud didn't pay any attention to them as he turned around to face the stair well door. Pulling out two tubes of super glue, Cloud began to squeeze the clear liquid in the small crevice between the door and its frame. He could hear the footsteps in the stairwell getting closer. They'd be on to him within a minute! The glue wouldn't be dried in time!

Cloud stayed calm, that's why he dropped into a office supply closet earlier. Pulling out a can of compressed air used for cleaning keyboards, Cloud sprayed it over the glue, drying up most of it. Stashing it back in the bag, he turned on his heel to run down the hall, only to stop short in his continued escape.

Sliding to a halt, Cloud nearly ran into the person who had been putting on his business suit jacket when he first ran in. That's when Cloud realized his mistake. The suit wasn't one for an office worker, it was the tailored uniform of a Turk.

_'I am so dead. How can I be so stupid?'_ Cloud thought, recalling where he was_, 'I'm on the Turks' office floor!'_

Untucked shirt, open jacket suit, no tie, Cloud recognized who he was before looking up at the person's face. Knowing who the stranger was didn't stop Cloud from nearly falling back in surprise as he took in the person's face: a smirk playing across a pair of lips, twin scars on his cheeks, goggles on top of his head, and of course, messy red spikes of hair.

"What's a cadet like you runnin' around here yo?"

Cloud was frozen on the spot absolutely dumbfounded. Today had been surreal the moment he woke up here, despite knowing that everything was real, it just never really hit Cloud. Everyone he saw so far was dead, so it was easy to convince himself that this was all some coma-induced dream. Until he saw Reno.

Reno who Cloud shouldn't be looking _up_ to see his face. Reno who should have tried to _hit _him with his electrified nightstick in greeting. Reno looking at him in amusement. Reno who should have a _ponytail_. Not Reno with just... his spiked hair, and not Reno looking at him with suspicion and curiousity without the faintest hint of recognition.

That lack of recognition was like a slap to Cloud's face. This. Was. Real. Cloud made a frantic look over his shoulder at the door, heavy footsteps getting closer. This was actually real, and the SOLDIER chasing him was just as real as everything else. Reno noticed the signs of anxiety and panic on the cadet with practiced ease and grinned, his curiousity piqued.

"Ah, you're running _from _someone," Reno smirked.

When the blond began to edge away from the stairwell door and the fast-approaching foot steps, Reno took a step to the side to stop the cadet's attempt to escape. Knowing that he probably couldn't get away without seriously injuring himself, Cloud stayed reluctantly rooted to the spot.

"So who's it you're running from, yo?"

Reno waited for an answer, but he was only met with silence and a blank stare. Tilting his head with a slightly annoyed look on his face, Reno opened his mouth to speak, but a small vibrating noise caught his attention.

"Hold on a sec' there," Reno said idly, opening his PHS.

As green eyes moved across the screen, a red eyebrow slowly rose. A runaway cadet with blue eyes, blond spiky air, and a tracheal tube in his throat, most likely hidden with a scarf of some sort. Glancing between the message and the cadet, Reno made a small 'huh' sound. This little runt was the cadet he heard about earlier? Who'd of thunk it?

He was a little bit on the short side, but he was one hell of a fighter if he took five other cadets with him to the infirmary. And he managed to get off the floor without being caught? Now Reno was interested. He tried to, uh, 'check-out' of a hospital stay before, but he was always caught some how. He swears that those medics had a _radar_ for him or something. So how did this _cadet _do it?

_'I wonder how far this guy can go before getting caught...' _Reno thought. The blonde must have caused some major mayhem a few floors up. He could hardly wait to take a look at all the security tapes.

Cloud waited in nerve-wracking silence as the Turk seemed to think over something. In seconds, Reno seemed to make up his mind about something and said to him with a smirk,

"Get out of here blondie."

Cloud just stared at Reno. Was he serious? That text message was obviously about him! Shouldn't Reno be dragging him back to the medical floor? Not that he really had any problems with it, but why was he letting him go? This Reno didn't know him, he didn't recognize him at all! This wasn't making any sense! Reno stepped to the side, exageratedly waving a hand at the empty hall. Cloud made a few small cautious steps, but his mind was running in circles, trying to make sense of what he just heard, his face showing disbelief and confusion.

Reno just scoffed, "Hey, I got my reasons. Besides, Zack owes me a little chat. But don't go thinkin' I'm lettin' ya slide just because I let you go, 'cause I'm not! I'm just giving you a head start before I start chasing ya. So get lost already before I change my mind!" The Turk grinned as the teen nodded mutely and began to jog away. Shouting down the hall, the red head told the escapee to be careful about his own injury,

"Don't kill yourself! And don't _get _killed either, yo! You'll make me look bad if you do!"

Cloud couldn't stop a small smile forming on his lips. Stranger or not, Reno was still Reno. Hearing muffled shouts from behind a distant stair well door, he pulled out the stuffed envelope, sealing it as he ran and hugging it to his chest with his free arm. Biting his lip and clinging to the envelope like his life depended on it, Cloud headed for the elevator.

The key to running around someplace without drawing too much suspicion, was to give any onlookers a reason for his running. Like holding a non-descript envelope that was stuffed with a pile of papers that looked very important. He might be on the Turk office floor, but they were still offices, and it wouldn't be too unusual to see someone in a rush to deliver a message or package. Also, Turks dealed with highly sensitive situations and cases, and it wasn't an uncommon practice to have some information hand-delivered.

If anyone outside of the Turks was used to deliver something, the person delivering the message was either trusted, intimidated, or knew nothing about it, which was perfect because any cadet could be easily intimitated or ordered to deliver something without knowing a thing about the contents. And a cadet wouldn't dare open anything even remotely classified unless they had a death wish. Passing an opened door, Cloud kept his gaze foward when he saw _Tseng_ of all people standing in the doorway.

Since, he wasn't shot in the back or ordered to stop, Cloud counted himself in the clear for now. He could hear Zack shouting profanities down the hall and something along the lines of, "Why isn't this door opening?" Shit. Apparently his friend had been chasing him the entire time, but that wasn't as important as the fact that he could see his goal ahead of him, an open elevator!

Cloud dived through the closing doors of the empty elevator, shutting his eyes as he hit the floor, sliding until he bumped into the far wall and stopped. Turning around as he sat up, Cloud watched the doors slide close. Rising to his feet, he didn't relax, even when the elevator began to move. Holding his hands on his knees, Cloud closed his eyes and tried to breathe.

Gulping in as much air as he could through the tube, Cloud felt his heart beat slow down a little. The pounding in his head from the blood rush eased, allowing him to hear clearly again. There was no elevator music, just a faint 'whooshing' noise. The sound a high-speed elevator makes as it plummets to the ground before slowing to a stop. Unless the cables were destroyed, he didn't need to worry about going 'splat' then 'boom' at the bottom.

Cloud shook his head with a sigh. He still needed to lighten up some more. He took things too seriously at times. Taking in another deep breath, Cloud frowned. He didn't know which way he was going. Up or down, he couldn't tell the difference, but as long as he didn't return to the medical floor, he would be fine.

Other than the elevator's 'whooshing', the only noise he could hear was his own wheezing as he continued to gulp in air. A few more moments of panting and he could almost think clearly again, but Cloud couldn't shake off this feeling he was being watched. He knew there was most likely a camera on the elevator, but that wasn't it. It was almost like somebody was... staring at him... in _person_...

Like the person he could hear calmly breathing on the other side of the elevator...

Cloud nearly flinched at the realization.

_'I've been slipping up a _lot _today_,' a small voice in the back of his head dutifully informed him. Cloud duly noted it.

Forcing his body to stay relaxed, Cloud thought rationally. He got on the elevator and didn't see the person next to him. It was most likely another employee or somebody else who would have no idea who he was. Big deal. He could handle this, he just needed to keep his cool and continue acting like he had been.

Hands still on his knees, Cloud didn't move, his eyes trained on the floor space ahead of him. Except, he didn't see the floor ahead of him. Instead, he saw the side of the building passing beneath him, the ground moving further away. Blue eyes widened in horror. Not only was he moving _up_, but the floor beneath his feet was made of reinforced _glass_.

_'Oh no.'_

The person next to him was _very_ important.

The feeling of his skin _crawling _down his spine finally registered in Cloud's previously oxygen-deprived brain, and he changed his earlier statement.

_'Oh _fuck_...'_

The person next to him was very _dangerous._

From under spiky bangs, he looked out of the corner of his eyes at the person standing a few feet away. Accidently, breathing through his nose, the faint smell of leather struck Cloud's nose. Breath caught in his throat, Cloud looked over with dread.

He could only think of one person at the top of his head that wore leather in the past. Even though he was _trapped_ in what was basically a glass _box_, Cloud's body was ready to fight, run, _something,_ when he finally dragged his eyes far enough to see the person's feet.

The first thing Cloud saw were a pair of black boots... followed by a leather trench coat.


	7. From Break Out to KO

Posted: 1/12/11

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7.

I'm not sure what to say, but thank you for being patient (or addicted). Before you read, I just want to say to everyone, especially some of my reviewers: I bet you didn't see this coming. (And I'm not talking just about the beginning part.) Hopefully I can succeed in getting the next chapter done sooner. And once again, thank you all very much!

* * *

Cloud eye's trailed up the pair of black boots as he stood up and backed away from the person. Yes, the person was wearing a leather trench coat, but it _wasn't_ black. Cloud sighed in relief, and then he noted what color it was.

Red.

Further stepping away from the man until he bumped into the far wall, Cloud discovered that he was stuck in the Executive elevator with Genesis Rhapsodos.

_'This can't be good,'_ Cloud thought.

"You know, I think he's the first cadet to ever get in here," Genesis said, looking up from his phone for a moment.

The wall Cloud bumped into shifted slightly and much to his despair, he realized that the Commander wasn't talking to him, but the person he had unknowingly bumped into.

_'Oh, this is going to be bad, isn't it?'_ Cloud mentally asked himself.

He knew only a handful of people who could possibly be behind him, and the fact that he didn't notice the second occupant took him by surprise. It didn't last long however when Cloud felt his spine shudder. Someone more dangerous than Genesis was standing behind him.

"I believe you're right."

_'That voice...'_ Cloud's eyes grew wide, his mind already seeing flashbacks. He _knew _that voice.

-THUD-

The suddenly-heavy tool bag fell to the floor from Cloud's now limp hand as he gulped. Trying to keep his breath quiet and even, Cloud could feel the danger practically suffocate him to death, and there was no mistaking _that_ tell-tale sign of who was behind him.

As if he was burned, Cloud jerked away, jumping towards the elevator doors and away from the elevator's two other occupants. Cloud looked up at the second person in the elevator.

It was Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was not dead when he should be. Sephiroth _shoudn't_, but _was_ very much _alive_. And Cloud was stuck in a _glass_-fucking-_elevator _with him! ...And it didn't help that Genesis was there as well.

If there was ever a moment in Cloud's life, where he sincerely questioned if fate or luck or Gaia or _some _higher diety up there sincerely hated him, standing in a glass elevator with Sephiroth was definitely one of those moments.

Cloud's mind raced,_ 'I'm not ready for this! I can't fight him yet! I won't stand a chance!'_

But old habits die hard, and so, ready or not, Cloud's body reacted and he threw the only weapon he had on hand at Sephiroth.

And then, with widening eyes, Cloud remembered what he had been holding.

In slow motion, Cloud watched the envelope whip through the air, already regretting what would probably be his last few seconds of life. The envelope tore under the weight of its contents, and several papers fell from the envelope.

-Riiip!-

Looking past the envelope, Cloud watched the reactions of the two SOLDIERs. Genesis was mildly surprised and even Sephiroth seemed to be caught off guard for a moment if his slightly widened eyes were anything to go by.

-Smack!-

Although surprised, Sephiroth easily caught the stuffed envelope in his left hand, stopping it from hitting his face. Several sheets of paper flew about within the confines of the elevator, slowly fluttering to the floor.

Sephiroth raised a silver eyebrow and glanced at the papers sticking out of the torn opened envelope, before he tilted his head down slightly to look at Cloud.

Mentally preparing himself for a threat or taunt, and more importantly, the attack that would shortly follow, Cloud subtly tensed his muscles, ready to move.

"Did you want an autograph cadet?"

Cloud nearly died right there from the sudden confusion alone. Of all the things he expected to hear and all the things people have said to him in his entire life, _that _was not one of them, whatsoever.

_'It's official,'_ Cloud thought, _'I've finally gone insane.'_

Cloud nearly cringed at that as he corrected himself, _'No, I just need to be less dramatic and calm down. I'm not insane, I'm just in denial of reality.'_

Yeah, that made much more sense, because reality consisted of being trapped in an elevator with a rational, non-defected Genesis and a very sane and mentally sound Sephiroth.

But Cloud no longer had any idea what was going on, especially with that... _question _Sephiroth had asked. Unless he was trying to mess with Cloud's mind. Again.

Quickly dismissing that idea, Cloud refocused on reality. Now was not the time to think like that.

Not even a second had passed by since Sephiroth spoke before one of the papers fluttering around in the elevator passed down in front of him. Cloud's eyes briefly focused on it, reading the words:

**"Join a SOLDIER fan club today!"**

Okay, now Cloud knew _that _couldn't be real because the stack of papers he took were completely _blank_. He was just seeing things now. Afterall, he had a tracheal tube sticking out of his throat. What he just saw was probably nothing more than just a oddball figment of his imagination as a symptom of the recent lack of oxygen to his poor confused brain.

Just to make certain of it, he looked down at the scattered papers on the floor, and realized, much to his dismay, that the stack of blank papers he grabbed earlier weren't as blank as he first thought.

While one side wasblank, the other side had heroic images of SOLDIERs, all of them hosting group names, such as Honor League, Red Leather, and Silver Elite.

The envelope was full of fan club posters.

Cloud could practically gag from from the irony of his situation alone, followed by laughing himself to death. Despite the strange urge to laugh, he couldn't bring himself to even twitch his lips into a half-hearted smile.

Afterall, he couldn't forget about the suffocating presence of death-incarnate and death-incarnate's friend.

Still, that didn't stop his eye from twitching in annoyance. To think, he actually used to look up to Sephiroth as a _hero._

_'Yeah,'_ Cloud thought bitterly,_ 'Then that hero went insane and gone on a killing spree. And I learned that being the hero wasn't all that it's cracked out to be. And I only became one because no one else was doing anything. No one else wanted the responsibility, not even me.'_

Before he could really start royally kicking himself, Cloud was snapped out of his thoughts by Sephiroth's calm voice,

"Cadet, if you wanted an autograph, you should have waited for the orientation. At the very least, you politely ask instead of throwing the papers. I assure you that I don't mind, despite contrary belief."

Cloud just blinked at Sephiroth, his eye twitching again ever so slightly. He didn't know how to respond to that.

The two SOLDIER Firsts looked at Cloud as he stared back. The elevator light steadily blinked as the elevator went higher, the small ding of passing floors the only noise. The papers had all fallen, and there was -oddly enough- an akward silence. No one seemed to be sure of what to do, at least for Cloud, he had _no_ idea what to do.

Sephiroth simply waited patiently for him to say something after repeating his question one last time, while Genesis still had his phone in hand and glanced up every now and again, but for all the world looked bored out of his mind.

Struggling to think, and as though to clear his reeling mind of the confusing thoughts and emotions whizzing through his mind, Cloud shook his head a few times, unknowingly answering Sephiroth's question.

Cloud couldn't have been on the elevator for more than thirty seconds, but with his frantic thoughts and rattling heart, he could have been standing there for hours for all he knew.

And he was so caught up by both his thoughts and the suffocating feeling of being around Sephiroth that he failed to notice that the elevator had stopped until the doors opened.

They were the same doors that he had been firmly pressing his back against in hopes of miraculously disappearring, because at this point, Cloud was all for running away. Again.

Although, stumbling backwards wasn't quite the disappearing act he had hoped for, he was off the elevator. And now that he was off, he was going to get as far away from it as possible. At least, that had been his plan, until a voice stopped him.

"Is that how you treat all of your superiors _cadet_?" Sephiroth asked, envelope still in hand as he stepped out of the elevator and looked down at Cloud. Besides stressing the word 'cadet', his voice hadn't changed at all, but Cloud swore he felt his (and a lot of other people's) life expectancy rapidly dwindling short.

More out of self-preservation than protocal, Cloud snapped into a salute, shaking his head as he mouthed out a silent, 'No, Sir! Sorry, Sir!'

_'Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm,' _Cloud frantically thought_, 'This Sephiroth doesn't know you. You're a _cadet _again, so just _act _like one and you'll be fine!'_

Maybe if he was lucky, Sephiroth would just go away. Yeah, he would just forget all about little-insignificant-cadet him and just leave. He probably had something more important to do, like the orientation that should be starting in a few minutes now. So, Sephiroth was probably just going to pass him off as an over-eager cadet and promptly forget about him. Yeah...

Oh who was he kidding? He threw a stuffed envelope at his _face_! How could _anyone_ forget something like _that_? Sure it wasn't a weapon, but he must have pissed him off! Any moment now, he would get stabbed in the chest. _Again._ He could just see the Turks dumping his body minutes from now and making his death look like an unfortunate accident!

Cloud's mind instantly became quiet and blank at Sephiroth's stare. Cloud tried to figure out what he was thinking, but if Sephiroth was curious at his silent response or mad about his earlier actions, he didn't show it.

_'Oh, this is bad,'_ Cloud began to panic,_ 'He's more unreadable than when he was _insane!_'_

Fighting the urge to move away from Sephiroth's stare, Cloud did not like this situation at all. A staring-Sephiroth usually meant a thinking-Sephiroth, and since this Sephiroth never met him before, the General was probably curious who he was.

_'Oh, please don't let him be curious,'_ Cloud silently pleaded to Gaia, _'Because a curious-Sephiroth would be bad. Very, very bad.'_

Sephiroth made a small 'hmm' sound and Cloud's heart slammed straight to the ground with a distinct 'splat'.

That was an omen if Cloud ever heard or saw one, an apopcalyptic one at that.

_'Oh crap, he's curious! And with my luck, it's probably me! Oh no, no, no. Oh please, don't ask questions, don't ask questions. Ah shit! I can't even talk! If he asks something, he'll know something's up when I can't say anything, if he hasn't already! And if he isn't already curious, he'll have even more questions!'_

When Sephiroth moved, Cloud had to keep his arm from reaching for a sword that wasn't there and his feet stiill. Apparently he had more reflexes left than he had originally thought just hours ago.

Cloud thought that his had-been enemy was moving towards him, but instead, Sephiroth simply moved his arm, with envelope in hand, to stop Genesis from getting off the elevator. Keeping his face calm, Cloud watched with wary curiousity as Genesis grabbed the envelope and give a breif questioning look at Sephiroth.

Turning to face his friend, Sephiroth waved a hand towards Cloud and the elevator, answering the Commander's silent question, "Deal with this."

Genesis looked thoughtful for a moment, before giving a short nod, "Sure. I'll see you at the orientation then."

With a small nod in return, Sephiroth calmly left, not sparing another glance at Cloud, to his small amount of relief. Forcing his eyes to look foward, Cloud kept Sephiroth in his peripheal, refusing to relax until the General left the hallway.

_'That was both life-threatenting and... anticlamatic,' _Cloud thought.

Sure, he couldn't have expected a full-blown battle royale happening, and he was glad that _didn't _happen, especially since he didn't have any actual weapon, and _hopefully _the General wouldn't think of him again, but... That was it?

Cloud thought that he was starting to calm down, but it was just the opposite as he felt a sudden surge of anger.

Sephiroth had made life a living hell for him, and more importantly, his _friends_, and- and _that was it?_ He just _walks_ away! It was like nothing had ever happened!

Cloud was ready to storm after Sephiroth and stab _him _in the chest when a sudden question hit him: What if he killed Sephiroth?

Anger forgotten, Cloud held a hand over his mouth as he repeated the question to himself.

_'No, not: What if I killed Sephiroth? But: What if I killed Sephiroth _sooner_?'_

"CADET!"

Cloud jumped in surprise, looking up to see Genesis waiting for him, "It delights me to have your attention again. Now if you're done day-dreaming over there, would you mind getting back on the elevator and picking up your... papers?"

Knowing that his short escape was over, Cloud re-entered the elevator. Running would be a stupid thing to do now, not that it wasn't a stupid idea before of course.

The Commander tried to hit him upside the head with the envelope, but Cloud quickly ducked. When he turned around, Genesis just tossed the envelope at him before leaning against one side of the elevator doors, preventing them from closing. He could practically feel the sarcasm and disdain dripping off of Genesis as he was given a withering look.

_'Uh, what was that about?'_ Cloud asked himself,_ 'Better yet, I think it'd be best if I didn't know.'_

Cloud knew he had been lost in thought for a few moments, but he couldn't have spaced out that long, could he? Or did Genesis just have a short amount of patience? He didn't seem to be _that _impatient from what he could remember from Zack's memories...

Pushing the thought away, Cloud kneeled on the floor to pick up the posters. He had more pressing things to think of, like his sudden anger, because he needed to keep better control of his emotions if he was going to be staying in ShinRa for any length of time. And since he met Sephiroth in less than five hours of waking up in the past, he would need a _lot _more control than he had now.

If Genesis hadn't yelled at him, he probably would have done something stupid, like try to stab Sephiroth, without mako. Nevermind the fact that he didn't even have an actual weapon. And the one that he had used was such a _deadly _envolope stuffed with _lethal fan club posters_.

How did he expect to kill Sephiroth with that! Beat him to death with his own picture?

Cloud scoffed at the mental image as he choked back a laugh. Laughter was _not _the best medicine for him at the moment. And if he laughed now, he would probably become hysterical. In fact, he was surprised he hadn't already found a nice little corner to cry in by now.

Tucking the last poster away, Cloud stood up and stared at the Commander for a moment. Genesis didn't even look at him, he was far more occupied with his cell phone. Having nothing else to do then, Cloud turned his focus to the side of the building.

Between the General and Commander, he actually felt _safe_ with Genesis in comparison. At the very least, he didn't feel that his life was in any imminent danger. The only thing he even had to worry about was being hit by an envelope.

As his mind wandered, Cloud returned to his earlier question: What if he killed Sephiroth sooner?

He hadn't actually thought about it.

Sure, he had thought of the possibilty of killing Sephiroth again if he couldn't stop the Nibelhiem Incident, but he never thought of what it would actually take to stop Sephiroth _before_ then.

If he destroyed Jenova, Sephiroth wouldn't go insane, but as big of a role she had played in all the destruction that followed the Nibelhiem Incident, Jenova was really just the catalyst.

He had a feeling that wouldn't be enough, because JENOVA was only half the catalyst. The first half were the books in the ShinRa Manor that Sephiroth had read, learning how he was born. Cloud frowned as some small fuzzy parts of Zack's memory came up.

It wasn't an event, but a suspicion Zack had. He had felt that what the General had read hadn't been entirely true, that something just didn't add up. It was like one thing was off, and it was important. But what?

Cloud gave a tired sigh. He couldn't think what it could be at the moment. He was too tired and in emotional tulmult to think clearly about it right now. He was going from being close to an emotional breakdown to logically thinking. Cloud grimaced. That wasn't the best of combinations to have was it?

All of this (and then some) had processed through his head as he turned away from Genesis. With his mind occupied and focused on so many other things, as well as feeling a confusing tyraid of emotions, he quickly forgot about the Commander standing just a few feet away.

So catalystic events aside, could he stop the events that had led to Sephiroth's breaking point? Could he stop the loss of the only two people who were his friends? Cloud wasn't sure, most of them happened before he ever met Zack, sometime during or after the Wutai War.

Cloud paused. There it was again, first this morning and the just now.

The Wutai War. Everything seemed to be connected to it, like that was when it all began to start. But it hadn't even begun yet. If he was here two years before the Wutai War ever started, then he was here two years before everything that led up to Sephiroth's breaking point, two years before the Nibelhiem Incident.

As more thoughts continued to swiftly race through his head, he let his face express how troubled he felt. Running a hand through his hair, Cloud tried to think. Leaning against the elevator, Cloud had unknowingly let his guard down as his body unconciously tried to relax and calm down as his mind grew more stressed as he tried to figure out what to do.

Even if he didn't know what to do, he knew there was a real possibility for him to stop everything before it began! Cloud felt his heart race, he could barely believe that this was all real! He _knew _everything around him was real, but that didn't stop him from starting to lose his grip on reality. It was simply becoming too much for him to handle, he felt ready to pass out.

Determined not to do just that, Cloud gripped the railing next to him with a hand he didn't even realize was shaking. Using the back of the hand holding the envelope, Cloud rubbed at his chest. He was feeling that strange stinging sensation across his skin there again.

Why did it feel like someone had zapped him with a lightning materia?

Distracted from his previous thoughts, Cloud frowned in confusion as his neck began to feel sore along with several parts of his body. He hadn't been feeling pain since he ran off, so why was he starting to feel pain now?

Cloud mentally shrugged. It must have been the IV drip. Maybe some sort of mild painkiller that was wearing off. He had been running for at least ten or so minutes, so whatever drug he was on had probably worked it's way out of his system.

_'Stupid bullies,'_ Cloud whined- er, complained.

Why was he _plagued _by them? First in Nibelhiem by the neighborhood kids, then at Midgar by other cadets. What really took the cake was that he got to experience being a cadet all over again, along with bullies and everything else.

_'So much for moving on with my life...' _Cloud thought dryly.

Well, at least the bullies got what was coming to them. If it was any consolation, he probably wouldn't have bully troubles anymore. He did _stab _one of them, so they'd think twice before messing with him again. Hopefully...

Oh why did he even bother with denial? He had ran into _Sephiroth_ of all people in the five short hours of being here! With that kind of luck, he'd be lucky if he didn't get _more_ bullies!

Feeling a hand touch his shoulder, Cloud started into awariness. Thinking that it was the bullies again due to his last few thoughts, Cloud grabbed the person's hand before dropping the envelope in his right hand to lash out with a right jab.

And he would have given the person a bloody nose if his punch wasn't intercepted.

Feeling his wrist trapped in a strong grip, Cloud didn't bother hiding his cringe. The hand holding his wrist was actually exerting quite a bit of pressure, and it was starting to hurt, a lot. He would have fought back if he hadn't realized one thing:

He had just tried punching Genesis Rhapsodos in the face_._

_'Why am I trying to hit _every _person in the _face?_' _a small part of Cloud's mind muttered.

Looking up at the SOLDIER with a neutral expression, despite the slowly increasing pain, Cloud tried to stay calm and not go for the pressure points on the Commander's arm to free his wrist.

"Do I have your attention now cadet?" Genesis asked with a hard look.

Slowly letting go of the red-leather clad arm, Cloud gave a short rigid nod.

Given one last searching look, Cloud brought his arm back to his side when his wrist was finally let go. Genesis stepped away from him and casually caught the elevator door before it closed.

"From the smell of anti-septic, blood, and sweat, you're one of the cadets in the fight this morning. Correct?"

Cloud gave another nod, but it seemed to annoy Genesis.

"I expect a verbal response cadet."

Not wanting to give Genesis any more reason to be irritated, Cloud carefully tugged down the make-shift scarf to expose his neck.

Genesis looked mildly and curious, "How did..." Trailing off, the man just shook his head, "Nevermind, I don't have time. Come on."

At his gesture to follow, Cloud picked up the tool bag and envelope. Quickly walking after the Commander, Cloud glanced over his shoulder as the elevator doors closed behind him. Well, there went his last chance to runaway, no turning back now. Resettling the scarf around his neck, Cloud trailed silently along.

The few SOLDIERs they had passed didn't say anything other than a friendly greeting or salute to Genesis, but as soon as they saw Cloud, the SOLDIERs would look at him in open curiousity or even puzzlement, as though they didn't know what to make of him.

They had only passed by five SOLDIERs in the hallways, but Cloud was ready to find an office, barricade the door, hide under a desk, and have a panic attack. Despite this feeling, Cloud just focused on moving one foot in front of the other to follow the red trench in front of him.

Genesis stopped in front of a door, sliding a card through the electronic lock. A small beep sounded and the door unlocked. Taking a few steps inside, Genesis waited for Cloud to walk in before closing the door behind him.

Cloud stood by the door, quietly waiting as he took a brief look around before watching Genesis walk towards his desk. Turning to face him, the Commander held out his hands, "Hand those over."

Giving up the envelope and tool bag, Cloud watched Genesis walk behind the desk. Opening a drawer, Genesis lifted the item up, before letting them go with a bored look.

-THWUMP!-

Cloud tried to stay aware of his surroundings, but was too caught up in his thoughts again. If he was going to prevent Sephiroth from going insane, then he needed to stop the Commanders from leaving, which meant he needed to stop them from degrading, but how?

Running a hand through his hair again, Cloud just wanted- no, _needed_-time to himself so he could just think.

Luckily for him, Genesis had other places to be at the moment. Cloud looked up when the SOLDIER tapped a chair in front of his desk, "Sit down."

Once Cloud sat down, he half-heartedly listened to Genesis speak as he walked towards the door.

"As curious as I may be about how exactly a new cadet, such as yourself, got onto the Turk floor, I have more immediate matters to attend to first. In the meantime, you are to remain where you are. So don't touch anything."

Cloud turned his head slightly when he heard the door open not close. Ín his peripheal vision, Cloud saw Genesis re-enter the room slightly, saying as though he had almost forgot,

"I must admit, I'm impressed you managed to get on the Executive Elevator, from the Turk Office floor no less. And, I'm not easy to impress. Although it's a shame really."

Cloud suddenly had a bad feeling as Genesis turned around to leave, casually saying over his shoulder,

"You'll be lucky if your only punishment is permanent removal from the ShinRa Company."

With that, Genesis left, closing the door behind him with a solid 'click'.

Cloud turned around with horrified eyes, the blood draining from his face. For almost a minute, he just stared at the door. As the news began to sink in, he slowly- robotically- turned himself towards the desk again.

He glanced at his watch. It was just after six thirty. He had been here less than five hours, and he already lost his second chance at SOLDIER.

Cloud silently chuckled, _'I'm just can't pass that test can I?'_

When he had the slight hallucination during the fight, Cloud figured that would be the extent of his mental breakdown. What he didn't realize was that he was about to truly experience a breakdown, both mental and emotional. And the dark, negative thoughts that he had long since moved on from were ready to torment him again.

Sitting there in joyless mirth, Cloud's silent laughs became choked sobs. Resting his head in his hands, he could feel the hot tears streaming from his eyes, but he couldn't have cared.

He had a second chance to do _something_ different, to make a _better_ future.

If he was just kicked out of the SOLDIER Program, maybe he could have become a Turk. At least then, he'd still have inside access to ShinRa and be able to stop what was going to happen.

But no, he had ruined everything completely and destroyed his past-future with one that would undoubtedly be far worse.

He never felt more devastated or worthless in his life.

Cloud lifted his head as he held a hand over his mouth, the other one resting limply on the chair's arm rest. Looking around the office, Cloud wondered why he had expected things to be different, to be better.

_'Since when did anything get better?'_

Things just went from bad to worse. And when life settled down, things turned bad again.

Cloud struggled to think of how he could still do something, but unless he was injected with mako, there was no way he could even hope to fight against Sephiroth.

What if he didn't fight alone?

He shook his head, pulling on his hair fretfully. No, he couldn't reach his friends, he wouldn't be able to. He didn't have the resources to travel across the world to get them, he didn't even have a way to contact them.

Cloud sobbed harder.

He didn't have a single friend in this time, not a soul.

And he didn't know what was worse, not having his friends help him, or being unable to help his friends. Even now, as he sat there crying, Nanaki was probably in a lab somewhere below his feet- or he soon would be- not to mention Vincent.

He could _try_ to get rid of Jenova, but he wouldn't even be able to make it back to Nibelheim as a broke ex-cadet. He didn't even have a weapon and without any of his previous strength, reflexes intact or not, he wouldn't survive a journey half-way across the world!

If he couldn't destroy Jenova, or even stop the Commanders from degrading, then Sephiroth was a ticking time bomb, and no one would be able to stop him. Even if he did some how- miraculously- gather his friends together like before, he still wouldn't have the strength to face off against Sephiroth, and where would that get them?

He'd only end up getting everyone killed, and with his luck, he'd be left alive so he could see the world burn around him as his friends either died one-by-one or in one fall-swoop.

_'Why am I always the hero?'_

He shook his head. No, he was no hero, he never saved anyone. All he did was stop the body count, and as the Reunion had shown, it was only temporary.

_'Why can't someone else be the hero? Why not Zack?'_

_'Because he died- no, killed to save you, and how do you repay him? You took his _identity_!'_

Cloud looked away, as though to run from his thoughts, and his eyes landed on a letter opener. It was a small blade that looked like-

_'The Buster Sword...'_

He didn't even know he had stood up until he held the small-scale Buster Sword in his hand. Cloud smiled at it bitterly.

_'Zack gave his life for you, and all you could do was take his sword from his dying body and pretend to be him until you actually believed it.'_

Zack would have been the hero that Cloud never was. He would have actually saved people... like Aerith... If Zack had just left him behind he would have lived!

But what about Cloud?

He would have surely died from exposure or a passing monster, because Zack would be running from ShinRa. And when he learned that Cloud was dead, Zack would have moved on to stop ShinRa.

_'What if I hadn't lived?'_

Cloud blinked away some tears as he gave the possibility some thought.

_'What if Sephiroth isn't the person I needed to kill?'_

Cloud gently touched the the sharp edge, lightly cutting his finger.

_'What if the only person I had to kill... is myself?'_

Cloud began to hiccup as he sobbing slowed, his mind circling that one question.

If Zack had lived and not him, things would have turned out far better. Zack would of had connections, had contacts in ShinRa. He would have been able to stop Sephiroth, and wouldn't have succumbed to Jenova. Hell, if Zack had never _met_ him, things would have been _better_ and people would have _lived._

_'But Zack doesn't know me.'_

Cloud stared at the down-sized Buster Sword, gently holding it across his wrist, the feel of cold metal on his skin. Maybe he could still fix things. Maybe this was the reason why he was sent back. Maybe, if he had never met Zack, things would have turned out better.

All he had to do was make one solid cut. Even several just to make sure.

No one had to die, just him and (when Zack becomes the hero) Sephiroth.

Just one small flick of his wrist, and everything would be fine.

Cloud could feel his heart clench as he began to brokenly sob again.

He sat down, the knife still resting on his wrist, waiting.

He gripped the handle harder in his trembling hand, and pressed down firmly, but he couldn't make that last small movement.

_'Why am I hesitating? Everyone would be better off if I was dead- if I never existed!'_

His body shook in more silent sobs, arms trembling as he held them up in front of him. And for a long time, Cloud just sat like that, trying to make his arm move.

Cloud was struggling so much with his own inner turmoil, he didn't notice the door open, but it wouldn't have mattered to him either way. He had made his decision.

Lifting the blade a few inches from his wrist, Cloud moved his arm to make one final cut.

But before he could deliver the fatal blow, Cloud was knocked out.


	8. So Much for Orientation

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7. There's also one or two references to other fics. I'm just too lazy and tired to comb through the FF7 time travel fics to find out which ones. But whether anyone finds or recognizes it or not, credit goes to respective authors/owners.

It's been two months and I can't believe it took me this long! I'll admit that I had this chapter done for a few days, but I just wanted to give it another solid read through (as well as a server error). I had been having a bit of trouble with this one at first, because all of the transitions and tying them all together. And on that note, I hope that it's easy to follow or at least not too confusing, because this chapter is about what everyone else (and by that I mean Zack, Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth; ZAGS for short) is doing after Cloud wakes up and runs. And if there's some silly spelling errors, it's probably from laziness or document save error, or something... yeah...

Anyway, I have a few ideas what to do next, but I am open for ideas- and by that I mean that I'm pretty much begging. Plus, I am also interested in what you -my awesome readers and/or reviewers- think will happen or want to happen next.

Lastly, thanks to Kurai Ame for her PM and being an encouraging (in her words) "Pest, Author, and Reader". :)

Posted: 3/20/11

* * *

_**(Shortly after Cloud's Escape, Level 45, Hospital Floor. Angeal.)**_

As soon as Zack disappeared around the corner, chasing after the blond cadet, Angeal mused aloud to the Chief Medical Officer next to him,

"You know, after all that yelling, shouldn't you be the one chasing after the cadet?"

Doc scoffed, "That's what you think."

Angeal looked down at the man with a raised eyebrow, "Really?"

Doc rolled his eyes, "Oh please, if your student is more than willing to chase after the cadet, then I'll save myself the trouble. Besides, if my staff can stop _Reno_ from an 'early check out', Zack should be able to catch that cadet easily."

Angeal nodded in agreement, asking with a small laugh, "You're right. I mean, how hard can it be to catch an injured cadet?"

Surprised by the sudden death-glare Doc was giving him, Angeal questioned the man, "What?"

Doc just shook his head before saying three simple words, as though it explained everything, "You poor bastard."

Angeal ran a hand over his face, realizing his mistake, _'Oh please don't let it be one of those days.'_

Taking a breath and hoping today wouldn't go straight to hell, Angeal suggested aloud, "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to help Zack out."

Doc looked doubtful, but nodded in grim determination, "Yeah, we want to make sure the cadet doesn't further injure himself."

"Of course," Angeal replied. As they began walking, he asked, "Do you really think Zack didn't handle the fight as well as he could have?"

Doc snorted, "Oh please Angeal, even _I _know that I get carried away with my lectures. While I'm not thrilled about what happened, I understand... Zack was just following protocal," he shook his head, "Although I still think it's rather brutal-"

"It's better for problems to happen now than later," Angeal finished for him.

Doc nodded, "Exactly."

Of all the rules dealing with Cadet Altercations, the one followed by SOLDIER seemed to be one of the more brutal ones. If a SOLDIER saw an altercation between cadets occur, they were not to intervene unless they had been seen by nearby cadets or informed by a cadet about the fight. It was a brutal weeding out system of sorts, and more informal than most. However, it was also one of the most effective ways of determining whether or not cadets can work together, and more importantly, if- and how- they can settle their differences.

While finding cadets that had the potential to be SOLDIERs was important, finding cadets that could work together was a higher priority. Being the best cadet of the bunch in the classroom meant nothing if they couldn't work constructively with their peers. SOLDIER was a life-long commitment, and the last thing needed were grudges to form. And if the new recruits couldn't work together now as _cadets_, there was no way on Gaia that ShinRa would even think of bringing them in as _SOLDIERs. _And the same thing went for the Turks as well, more or less.

As the two quickly walked down the halls, Doc called out to everyone, "Anyone seen the Puppy?" The staff members paused for a brief moment, before pointing in the same direction and gave an answer in chorus, "That way."

After so many attempts of escape by SOLDIERs and TURKs alike, it was second-nature to them. Most staff members couldn't pin down a mako-enhanced patient by themselves, so for safety reasons- as well as to minimize damages, and therefore, paper work- they simply pointed the person in charge of the patient (or one of the SOLDIERs on Hospital Duty that week) in the right direction and begin to lock down whatever wing the patient was in.

After a few minutes of walking, Doc was beginning to frown, "We should have caught up with them by now."

Angeal frowned as well from the commotion he could hear up ahead, before sharing his observation with his companion. Instead of looking relieved, Doc cursed and broke out into a run. Concerned and slightly confused, Angeal followed after him.

Both of them stopped before the entrance of another ward, slack-jawed expressions making their way on both of their faces at the sight. Angeal was left speechless, and even did a small double-take, but his companion was less responsive.

Doc's right eye just twitched.

Patients were running around, flailing their arms, climbing on doors and furniture, and occassionally fighting the staff or each other. All the while, medical personnel were chasing after the patients trying to pull them away from either objects or people.

Four staff members were trying to break up a fight between a SOLDIER Second and a Turk. A nurse was trying to pry a patient off the top of an open door. Three others were trying to wrestle down an especially unruly patient long enough to use a tranquilizing needle on him.

One of them moved to inject the struggling patient, but instead of getting the patient's flailing arm, she got one of the men trying to keep the patient pinned down, accidentally drugging up and knocking out her colleague.

Angeal stared at the sight before noticing a recently recruited SOLDIER Third hiding behind a potted plant and rocking himself back and forth. With wide frantic eyes, the SOLDIER kept repeating to himself over and over, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. It's not here anymore, it's gone. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay."

The shivering SOLDIER was flinching and jumping at every loud noise. The poor man looked like he was having a seizure.

Angeal resisted the urge to step back when wide eyes turned to him, as well as the urge to push the young man away when the SOLDIER launched himself at him. Looking over his shoulder, Angeal looked down at the SOLDIER hiding behind him, hands gripping the back of his shirt.

"PLEASE DON'T LET THE DEMENTED CHOCOBO GET ME!"

Wincing at the hollered plea and not knowing what to do, Angeal awkwardly patted the SOLDIER's back, looking over to Doc for help. Doc was just standing there, his face buried in his hands as he groaned, muttering to himself, "Not again! This is the second time this _month_! Why is it always _this _ward!"

Wandering what Doc was talking about, Angeal ignored the chaos around him for a moment and looked up at the sign above the entrance:

**"Outer East Wing, Psych Ward"**

Angeal stared at the sign.

"Just for the record, I blame _you_ for this," Doc said, referring to the SOLDIER's earlier statement of how hard it could be to catch a cadet.

Mind you, this cadet was being chased by _his _student, a SOLDIER _Second_, his _protégé_. And the cadet was injured, hell, he had almost _died_ less than an _hour_ ago!

Angeal's left eye just twitched.

_**(Twenty minutes later, Level Fifty-Two, SOLDIER Floor. Genesis.)**_

-Scritch, scratch, scratch.-

Genesis was in his office quickly writing his speech for the orientation. Glancing at his new phone, he frowned slightly at the time, a quarter before seven. The pen moved faster, his hand moving across from one end of the paper to the next in frantic seconds.

-Scratch, scratch, scritch.-

His meeting with Director Lazard had taken longer than he had expected. After a short debriefing of his previous mission, Genesis had been given a new... 'responsibility'.

As of next month, he was to make several appearances with the new SOLDIER Prep cadets.

Lazard said it was to provide motivation for the teenagers. Genesis considered it torture.

It was bad enough he had to go to meet with the new recruits that actually made it _in_ to SOLDIER, but now he had to meet them before they even _took_ the test.

He learned that after being told that he had to partake in the orientation. An orientation that he had only learned of that morning, instead of at last week's meeting. A meeting which he had _not_ fallen asleep.

And Angeal had saw it for himself that he had his eyes open the _entire_ time.

Never mind that Genesis had has mind elsewhere throughout the entire meeting, namely 'LaLa-Land'.

-Scritch, scritch, scratch.-

_'At least,'_ Genesis thought, returning to his earlier unhappy turn of events,_ 'I won't be the only one.'_

The only consolation he could take from the horrible situation was that Angeal and Sephiroth would have to meet the cadets as well. While Angeal probably wouldn't mind all too much, Genesis took comfort that Sephiroth would probably... _dislike_ every minute of it.

Turning his mind to more pleasant thoughts, Genesis thought back to his phone call with Angeal after having run into that blonde cadet. He had informed his friend that he would find a cadet waiting in his office.

Genesis wasn't sure what was happening in the background, but it sounded like Angeal was trying to break up a riot. Whatever was happening on the other line, Genesis wasn't sure if he wanted to know or not.

Considering he worked at ShinRa, knowing something could give him an advantage in a situation, be it on a mission or in a meeting. However, taking into account the other people who worked at ShinRa, sometimes he was better off ignorant. Like how _no one_ wanted to know why the President was at the Honey Bee Inn, or _what_ he was doing there- or rather _who_.

Genesis had shuddered the thought away from his mind,_ 'Never... _Never_ again.'_

When Angeal said a hasty goodbye, Genesis could have sworn he heard something about a chocobo before his freind hung up. As though to rid himself of the thought and focus on his writing, Genesis shook his head before he realized that he had ran out of room on the card, having filled out both sides already.

Looking at the few ideas he had written on the index card, he sighed in resignation before leaving his office. He couldn't afford to spend anymore time working on his speech, he needed to get to the orientation room. Otherwise, he would get to spend even _more_ quality time with cadets if he was late.

_'Goddess no,'_ he thought with a near-shudder,_ 'I have to spend enough time with them as it is.'_

And to think he had already had the unfortunate luck to run across one in the _Executive_ Elevator. What is the world coming to if a no-name cadet could gain access to it from the Turks' Office Floor? Another talk with Tseng was definitely in order, along with a cup of tea.

At least the cadet had been interesting though, so he wasn't put into quite the foul mood he usually experienced post-mako shots. It also helped that he had caught the whole thing on camera. He was looking foward to testing out the new slo-mo feature on his phone.

Although, he had been telling the truth that he was impressed, he wouldn't admit that he had also been genuinely surprised- and a bit amused. After all, it was a rare sight to see a cadet attack the General with fan club posters. All the more pity though, the cadet would probably be kicked out.

Fan club posters or not, it could still be considered attempted assault on a superior officer. Not to mention the insubordination from failing to salute his superiors, or the second attempted assault when the cadet tried to hit him. The fact that the cadet tried to hit him didn't upset him. It was the fact that the cadet _ignored _him that irritated Genesis.

Well, on second thought, perhaps 'ignored' wasn't the right word. The cadet had been completely zoned out and hadn't moved when he had called the cadet to attention. He was oblivious, probably lost in thought about having actually met Sephiroth.

Genesis rolled his eyes, _'Fans, honestly. They're always after Seph.'_

He frowned though at that last thought, because the cadet couldn't have been a fan. Despite the manila envelope being full of posters, the cadet had treated it like a weapon more than anything else.

When the cadet had first dove into the elevator, he hadn't even realized that they were there. But the cadet had tensed as soon as he realized he wasn't alone. Without so much as looking up.

Genesis hummed in thought. The cadet was... odd to say the least. He was first oblivious, then wary, then horrified about bumping into Sephiroth before throwing the posters at him.

Then the cadet was horrified again, before looking skittish. After falling through the elevator doors, he looked wary again, guarded and ready for a fight. After that-

Genesis groaned as he rubbed his head. This was giving him a headache. The cadet was just a bundle of seemingly random reactions. Putting his hand down, Genesis frowned at the cadet's last reaction, when the blonde tried to punch him.

If that was the cadet's reaction from being caught unaware of his surroundings, what would his reaction be from a surprise attack?

It was an interesting question.

And did the cadet always react that way? Did he punch any of his friends when they tried to get his attention while he was lost in thought? Did he space out like that often?

_'Oh joy, oh rapture,'_ he thought sarcastically,_ 'I'm curious.'_

He wanted to find out more about the cadet and he wanted answeres. And now that he was curious, he didn't like the idea of the cadet being kicked out.

_'Hm...'_ he thought, before mentally declaring,_ 'I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen then.'_

If he had to "forget" about the event, then he'd forget about it. Besides, he could care less about the paper work that it would take to file a report and a letter of discharge to the cadet.

_'The only thing left to do,'_ he surmised, _'Is confiscate any video serviellance recordings and get Sephiroth to agree. Now what to bribe the man with? The man has a moderate case of workaholic syndrome, so less paperwork is likely out of the question. Hm... This may be problematic... Maybe if I-'_

"GENESIS!"

Said man was brought out of thoughts as he looked up to see Angeal storming down the hall towards him.

_'Oh,' _Genesis thought, _'Angeal's angry again. Hm... What did I do this time?'_

Seeing his friend angry again was nothing new, because he usually had something to do with it. Thinking back to the last few days, he frowned when he couldn't think of anything that would upset his friend. How odd, he couldn't think of anything he had done recently.

But, if he took the recent mako shots into consideration, he wouldn't have been able to do anything to piss off his friend in the last few days. Genesis stood still, waiting for his friend who was only yards away now.

"WHAT THE HELL-

Uh oh. Angeal was cursing. Angeal doesn't curse. Angeal never curses. This was worse than Genesis had initially thought. He wouldn't walk away unscathed.

-DID YOU DO!" Angeal yelled at him, less than a few steps away now.

_'Well, no escaping now,'_ Genesis thought to himself, before nodding to his friend as though he wasn't being yelled at, "Hello again Angeal- !"

Instead of getting a greeting in return, let alone being allowed to finish his sentence, Genesis was blind-sided by a right hook to the face.

-THWACK!-

'Planet_,' _Genesis inwardly groaned from the black eye that was surely forming above his left cheek,_ 'It's_ _been a while since Angeal's lost his temper, and even longer since he did so _after _mako shots.'_

-FWUMP!-

Genesis caught Angeal's left fist, saving himself from receiving a complementary black eye, but he didn't block the other fist heading for his solar plexus.

-THUMP!-

Genesis slightly winced as he felt the air knocked out of him. He had seen that coming, but between taking a solid punch to the gut, or taking another one to the face, he'd rather focus on blocking the one heading to his face.

Not that he couldn't block both punches though, he just took into consideration that taking at least a few hits would hopefully calm Angeal down a little and stop further beating on his person.

And maybe- _maybe_- he deserved that for all the crap he put his friend through over the years.

Genesis mentally eye-rolled,_ 'Like I'll ever tell _him _that.'_

Even if all of ShinRa already knew that he deserved at least _a_ punch to the face.

Luckily for Genesis, he was right about taking a few hits. He wasn't punched again. Unfortunately for him, he was only partially right. Angeal was still furious, so instead of being punched again, Genesis was grabbed by the front of his trench coat and hauled up off his feet.

_'Uh-oh,' _Genesis thought, eyes widening as he vivdly remembered, _'There's a window behind me.''_

-WOOSH! CRASH! SHATTER!-

The three-inch thick window had hurt. A lot. And he knew he was going to be feeling that in the morning.

_**(Meanwhile, somewhere back stage in the orientation room. Sephiroth.)**_

Sephiroth quietly flipped through the files about the new cadets that would be arriving any minute on the other side of the curtain. He glanced around from time to time, watching the various people busily moving or idly waiting around.

A few sound technicians doing some last minute checks on equipment, SOLDIER and Turk representatives chatting or reviewing their own speeches, make-up artists doing some touch ups to those who asked. The usual works.

-Thud!-

Sephiroth looked up as he heard a faint noise from above him. It sounded like something had landed on the ceiling above him. Seeing a few people walking on the catwalks, he concluded that the sound must have come from one of them dropping equipment or something similar.

Looking back at his surroundings, Sephiroth noted that everything was ready to go. Just a few last minute adjustments and...

_'Where is Genesis?'_ he thought, noticing the absent of the man.

It was 6:53 already and the orientation would be starting at 7:00. He had already given them an extra few minutes, but they were still yet to arrive. Genesis's meeting shouldn't be taking him this long, even with the cadet to deal with.

_'And on that note, where is Angeal?' _he thought.

Angeal should have been here already, he usually arrived the earliest of the three of them. The only thing he had to do this morning was to be with him and Genesis at Tseng's office, but he had been called away half way through for an unexpected cadet altercation amongst the new recruits.

Pressing a few buttons and holding his phone to his ear, Sephiroth patiently waited for Angeal to pick up, intent on finding out what was delaying his friend this time. When he was greeted with Angeal's voice mail, Sephiroth simply made a small 'hm' noise, not all that surprised.

Just last week, they- that is he, Angeal and Genesis- had their routine mako injections, and Angeal was the one who got the extra shot this time around. Sephiroth silently sighed before he dialed Genesis's number next.

Angeal rarely had any violent outbursts after the mako shots, so he was probably just helping someone out again and merely had his hands busy. It wouldn't be the first time and wouldn't be the last.

_'Perhaps there was another fight between a Turk and SOLDIER again,' _he thought, waiting for Genesis to pick up. It wasn't all too uncommon for altercations between SOLDIERs and Turks to occur either. The daily banter and rivalry would escalate occassionally, especially on Mondays.

Whatever Angeal was doing though, it couldn't have anything to do with the cadets. Anything that involved cadets were always open-and-close cases.

"Hello, this is Genesis Rhapsodos."

Sephiroth sighed when he heard Genesis continue,

"I can't take your call right now, so leave a message. And if it's not worth the time for me to hear it, I swear to the Goddess that I will throw a Fireball at you."

Not bothering to leave a message, Sephiroth hung up. Standing near the giant red curtains that hid the stage from the audience's sight, Sephiroth frowned. Other than the faint noise from everyone preparing back stage or the catwalks, it was... quiet.

That couldn't be right.

There should be nearly two hundred recruits being seated on the other side of the curtain.

Moving one of the red curtains minutely, Sephiroth stepped out onto the stage, frowning at the empty seats. There was not a single cadet in sight. They should have been here by now.

_'Where is Zackary Fair?'_

Angeal had told him, his protégé had been excited and looking forward to the orientation. He was most likely with the cadets, but the cadets were supposed be here by now. Yet no Zack.

From what he knew of the younger man, he took all his assignments and meetings seriously, despite his lack of professionalism whilst performing them. So if the 'Puppy' was missing, then something must be wrong.

And Sephiroth didn't like it one bit.

Dialing the number he remembered from Zack's last updated file, Sephiroth patiently waited for the phone to ring.

_**(Roughly a minute before Sephiroth's phone call. Level Fifty-Two, SOLDIER Floor, Eastern Stairwell. Zack.)**_

Zack walked into the hallway with a small frown on his face, looking as if he lost his new squeaky toy. Which he did, considering he lost the cadet TURK floor... and he was so close to finally catching him too...

But then Reno had to mess it up! Zack scowled briefly at the reminder.

Luckily, Angeal had called and let him know that Cloud was caught and that he'd be okay. So then he had been looking forward to escorting the rest of the cadets, since that was his original duty, he had been looking forward to it all week!

But no! He couldn't even do that, because now he had to write a report about what happened. Well, that wasn't the real reason, Angeal had told him to report to his office to tell him what happen. And to be brutally honest with himself, he was still worried about Cloud. Zack stuffed his hands in his pockets hanging his head down in a 'kicked puppy' look.

Still, he had been looking forward to it for seven days, six hours, and twenty minutes. And now he would probably get in trouble for not getting the cadets to the orientation room. He tried calling several of his SOLDIER buddies to fill in for him, but none of them answered.

Zack sighed as he kicked away a small piece of glass, he needed to think happy thoughts, look things on the bright side. He nodded to himself. Yeah, that's what he needed to do.

This shouldn't be seen as a missed opportunity, but a chance to help out a future friend. With that, Zack smiled broadly and walked pass an open window where the morning sun was shining through, the everyday bustle of city life rising up to meet his ears.

Zack nodded to himself, _'Today can still be a good day. The sun is shining, the breeze feels nice and- WAS THAT A BROKEN WINDOW!'_

Zack took several steps back-

-Step, step, step.-

-and stopped on several pieces of glass.

-Crunch.-

"Woah..." Zack muttered, before rubbing his eyes in disbelief and awe, "That looks so cool! How did they pull it off?" he shouted, not even knowing who 'they' were.

What he had first thought was an open window was actually a broken one. Due to how high it was, the glass was considerably thicker, leaving the window relatively intact. However, a simple broken window wouldn't have been much cause for excitement, other than concern for getting it fixed. But this broken window was different.

Right in the middle of if was the break where a large chunk of glass missing because of some object that had passed through it. It didn't look like some SOLDIERs were horsing around and accidentally threw a weight like a frisbee. And Zack would know if _that_ happened again, er, not that he had anything to do with it of course.

Anyway, the missing part of the window looked like the silhouette of a person standing like a Cactuar, but upside down.

Little did Zack know, that just minutes ago, ShinRa's two Commanders had exited the building via window, along with several other SOLDIERs that followed shortly afterward to break up the fight.

Feeling curiosity get the better of him, Zack leaned forward to poke his head out through the window, after snapping a picture on his phone of course. This was definitely going on his wall later. As Zack expected, the view looked as normal as ever, if not a bit brighter from the direct morning sunlight. Not to mention a bit cooler from the wind.

On the side of the building, he could see the building extend further out a few times starting around the thirtieth floor, extending further out the closer the level was to the ground floor.

It wasn't until Zack looked down that he realized what he had thought was the normal chatter of city life was actually coming from the SOLDIERs trying to break up a fight between the two SOLDIER Firsts on the roof of the twentieth floor.

"What the..." Zack began, before spluttering out in a yelp, "Is that- is that Genesis and Angeal _fighting_?"

Not thinking twice, Zack jumped out the window to help, hollering as he plummeted,

"LOOK OUT BELOW!"

-THUD! THUMP! FWUMP!-

There was a moment of various noises of pain and surprise (in the form of yelps, groans, and whimpers), before being followed by shouting and yelling from the Commanders Zack had landed on, as well as the SOLDIERs that had helped soften his landing.

"Zack? What the hell are you doing!"

"Get off me! You're on my arm!"

"What the hell man?"

"Gah! You hit me in the eye with your elbow!"

"Woah! Watch it! You nearly cut me with your damn sword again!"

The jumbled shouts and complaints were cut short by a loud shuddering noise.

-CREEEEEEEEAAAAK!-

It wasn't until he saw the horrified looks from half the SOLDIERs that had been previously trying to pull the Commanders apart that it dawned on Zack that the group was currently on top of a flat glass sky light.

Everyone became silent and looked down at the glass panels they were lying on.

-GROOOOooooOOAAAaaaAANNN!-

All eyes stared at the breaking glass, watching as web-like fractures stretched across the glass from the center of the group.

-CREAK! SCREECH! CHINK! CREEEEAK! CREAK!-

Only heavy breathing could be heard from the majority of the group, the fight between the two Commanders providing quite a challenge- more like a surprise suicide mission.

Everyone remained still, not caring about whatever incriminating position they may or may not be in.

If Zack hadn't literally jumped in, the two Commanders would have still been fighting. Thankfully, Angeal was knocked back to his senses with a heavy boot to the head by his student, snapping out of his Genesis-aggravated anger. Well, 'stunned' was the better word at the moment.

Although, if Zack hadn't jumped in, then none of them would be in the current situation they were in now.

As the groaning of the glass paused, giving only an occasional warning for the SOLDIERs not to move, one of the SOLDIERs quietly drawled in casual exasperation, "Hey Zack."

Zack perked up slightly and greeted cheerfully, "Hey Kunsel. Is this why no one was answering my calls?"

"What do you think?" someone muttered.

Zack frowned slightly, with wide puppy eyes, "I thought you guys you didn't like me anymore."

Kunsel rolled his eyes while everyone else had similar reactions, still muttering under their breaths.

"So, uh, what happened?" Zack asked. Kunsel met him with a blank look through his helmet,

"Dude. You _fell_ on us."

"I didn't _fall_, I _landed. _There's a difference!"

-GROOOOOOOAAAN!-

Everyone made shushing noises at the two, before waiting for the glass to stop creaking. A few beats of silence later and someone asked slowly,

"Do you think we can move?"

Someone else muttered, "Maybe..."

Before anyone could try to move, the ring tone from Zack's phone trumpeted in the air.

-Insert Zack's victory music in Crisis Core (or Cloud's ringtone in Advent Children)-

Everyone held their breath as the ring tone played. When it finally stopped, no body spoke.

-Creak.-

Zack and a few others watched in dread as a miniscule piece of glass in front of them slowly moved, wiggling out of place from its confinement between the fractured pieces of the glass still supporting them.

Eyes were opened wide and breaths held in suspense. The silence that came afterwards was almost chilling, but the words that followed was worse.

"Uh oh," Zack said.

At that moment, everyone knew that they were screwed.

In a quick motion, the small fragment was squeezed out of place with a small noise.

-Plink!-

There was just enough time for Zack to mutter, "Oh shit," before,

-CRASH! SHATTER! WOOSH!-

The sound of shattering glass was accompanied by a lot of yelling shouting, before being followed up by,

-THWUMP!-

-RIIIP! WOOSH!-

-THUD!-

-SPLINTER! CRACK!-

-CRASH! THUD!-

_**(Moments earlier, on the stage in the orientation room... again. Sephiroth.)**_

Sephiroth slowly walked around, waiting for Zack to pick up. He was doing that a lot today, calling and waiting. Getting nothing but a voice mail, he snapped his phone close.

-Snap!-

Walking toward the curtain again to send someone after Zack and the cadets, Sephiroth stopped at a second noise.

-Creak!-

The noise came from above him where there was a row of sky lights. Sephiroth looked up, but, as expected, saw nothing. At the moment, the sky lights were covered by black out curtains, since the orientation would start off with a brief video presentation of what was to be expected before the speeches began.

Giving a mental shrug, Sephiroth faced the curtain again, drawing it aside to walk through.

-THWUMP!-

Sephiroth turned around, looking up. A large lump had appeared on one of the black-out curtains. Something sharp cut through the material, and soon the curtain was splitting.

-RIIIP!-

As the curtain ripped, several people fell through and landed onto the center of the stage.

-WOOSH! THUD!-

Sephiroth was surprised when he recognized Angeal, Genesis, and Zack amongst the pile of SOLDIERs. Before they could recover, the wooden beams beneath them splintered, before cracking apart. Sephiroth noted that they had just landed on top of one of the trap doors.

-SPLINTER! CRACK!-

Watching the men disappear beneath the stage, Sephiroth took a few steps forward.

-CRASH! THUD!-

Peering down through the broken floor at them, Sephiroth looked at what he could only describe as painful. As pitiful pained noises and curses filled the air, Sephiroth sighed.

He wasn't worried. There were no enemies or monsters nearby, so there was no imminent danger. And since each and every person in the pile of bodies were making some sort of noise, no one was dead. Maybe injured, and in pain, and very sore, but not dead.

He was, however, just a _tad_ bit exasperated.

Sephiroth had no other obligations to do after the orientation. And now that _that_ would probably be postponed to next week, he would have nothing to do. While this may have normally cheered up the General, he knew that his day would be _far_ from relaxing, because now he had to deal with... _this._

Shaking his head once and briefly closing his eyes, Sephiroth just sighed again.

_**(A long undetermined amount of time later. Somewhere on Level 45, Hospital Floor. Cloud.)**_

Cloud groggily woke up, slowly going over what happened to him since first waking up in the past, not quite connecting the dots and remembering that he was now _in_ the past. As his (mostly) irrational suicide attempt finally came to mind, Cloud instantly sat up with one thought going through his head:

_'Tifa's going to beat the shit out of me!'_

And he would deserve every brutal second of it.

Cloud almost whimpered.

And if that wasn't bad enough, all his friends would gather after hearing the news and have a competition to see who could throw or hit Cloud into the air highest. It would all be to cheer him up, of course.

Cloud whimpered.

Too busy imagining his friends having a fun game of "Cloud-Tosssing" after suffering a proverbial and physical beat down by Tifa, it took a few minutes for Cloud to notice his surroundings.

He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not yet, but either way, there were too many fluffy, white pillows in the room. Cloud was sure of it.


End file.
